> > The only place that a distinction between "email" and "news" > > makes any sense is when a message is being transferred by > > an application-specific protocol -- it certainly makes > > no sense in a recipient's UA.
> You may feel that way, but that certainly isn't how I choose to > interact with messages. I want to know, for a given (copy of a) > message, how it came to me.
It isn't clear that the transport involved is particularly significant. For example, IMAP can be used to transport both news and mail. What I think is being argued for here is a more nebulous thing: A sort of "treat this as news" versus "treat this as mail" flag.
There isn't anything that differentiates them, in RFCs 822, 2822, 1036, or in the drafts being discussed.
If you think it's necessary, then by all means present your case as to *why* it's necessary and give a concrete proposal for a solution.
FWIW, a mechanism was recently standardized that provides a way to label the general type of message you're dealing with. See RFC 3458 for details.
Mind you, I'm not saying that defining a "news article" message-context value would be a good idea. On the contrary, I'm far from convinced it would be good thing in any way. But it is a possibility.
Ned
