Newsgroups: news.software.b
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!b-tech!zeeff
From: zeeff@b-tech.ann-arbor.mi.us (Jon Zeeff)
Subject: Re: Time for 8 bit news, isn't it?????.
Message-ID: <SLK&6+*@b-tech.uucp>
Organization: Branch Technology
References: <15688@bfmny0.BFM.COM> <==H&NB&@b-tech.uucp> <1990Jul22.195243.28379@zoo.toronto.edu>
Date: Wed, 25 Jul 90 14:18:48 GMT

>>Maybe we do need checksums.  At least we could throw away munged articles.
>>Start doing that and I suspect that people would fix their software.
>
>Geoff and I thought hard about this during C News development.  The trouble
>with checksums is that most people would prefer a slightly mangled copy of
>an article to no copy of the article.  There are all too many transmission
>channels that do in fact slightly mangle articles (expanding tabs, fiddling
>with the definition of newline, etc.).	Some early test versions of C News

There is a certain class of sites that munge all articles in this 
way.  If someone found that all articles from their feed site were 
being dropped, they would tend to find a new feed (or if they still 
excepted it, it would be less likely that they would pass it on).  So 
the choice wouldn't be between slightly mangled news and no news, but 
between mangled news and a new feed.  

As it is, I can't identify munged articles even if I want to.  If I 
could identify them, I could at least hold out to get better copies 
from another site.  

Without a crc, we just don't have the tools we need to fix the problem.

-- 
Jon Zeeff (NIC handle JZ)	 zeeff@b-tech.ann-arbor.mi.us
Dolphins!  What about the tuna?
