Sounds to me like a programming problem. The programmer or installer needs
to be notified of what's happening. If the list was only being truncated,
more than likely the programmer didn't define a specific enough eof check.
But since it's being distorted, also, sounds like something more
challenging.
Glen Lee Edwards
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
SiteManager
Minnesota District Church of the Nazarene Internet Ministries
http://www.mnnazarene.org
http://www.nazarene.org/~mn
A bruised reed He will not break, and a dimly burning wick He will not
extinguish.
(Isaiah 42:3, Matthew 12:20)
To join the Minnesota District email list, email a letter to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
-----Original Message-----
From: TT <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Thursday, September 03, 1998 5:24 AM
Subject: Re: 1. Digests RFC? 2. Truncated Digests Mystery
|Thanks to Jeff for the RFC for digests:
|http://www.alternic.net/rfcs/1100/rfc1153.txt.html
|
|David W. Tamkin quoted & wrote:
|[TT]---
|> | 2. Any idea why a plain ascii text message with no signature,
|> | no lines of hyphens or any other character, would truncate
|> | our list digests, on some subscribers' email systems?
|
|Actually, one other person, one time, triggered truncation.
|His message did end in two rows of asterisks, which were visible
|in single and digest, and after which nothing at all appeared...
|no footers on the single, no subsequeqent message or footers in
|the digest. That one did not puzzle me. I tho't the lines of
|asterisks constituted the problem.
|
|> | The majority of subscribers receive "whole" digests, even with
|> | her message.
|
|On closer inspection, in her messages as received in AOL email,
|footers didn't disappear completely, but were affected and oddly
|corrupted. Sample below.
|
|> | ...Those of us whose digests are truncated use
|> | different email clients (Eudora Pro, Netscape Navigator 3.04)
|> | on different ISPs (AT&T, Best.com, NetWiz.net).
|<snip>
|> | The digest truncation occurred following her posts on two lists
|> | using different list automation software, on different providers.
|
|Namely, Majordomo on Sparknet and bestserv (a "C"-written
|imitation of many Majordomo features, but not much like Major-
|domo, written by a Best.com tech) on Best.com.
|
|
|> Tommi, have you ever seen the rest of an issue after her post? You see,
|> I cannot tell whether the sample you attached includes the part that is
|> normally truncated or not.
|
|I saw some of them, when I was receiving a second copy of the
|digest on AOL, where subsequent text was affected but didn't
|completely disappear. I didn't think to keep those. I do have
|a sample (included below) which I mailed to myself when I left
|AOL. It began life as a single, yet its footers are affected
|and the end of the post which followed hers (in the digest,
|and as the next single message to go out) is mooshed in with
|her footers. Very odd.
|
|When asked, she said that her original message had nothing
|under her first-name-only signoff, "Carol"
|
|At my request, she sent me her originals a couple of times.
|Nothing was visible at the end of her message. No period, no
|line of any kind. Nothing. But I was having her mail it to my
|email account, running my Netscape Navigator 3.04 which had
|demonstrated that it was affected by her messages as received
|from the list. So... not such a good test, maybe, huh.
|
|When I copy/pasted her text into Notepad (text editor in Win3.11)
|then into a new email message from my NetscapeMail, and posted
|it to the list, it did not affect the digest.
|
|> | Typical message below, in case that helps...
|>
|> | From: C Anonymous <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
|> | Received: from canonymous (van-bc10-28.netcom.ca [207.181.73.220])
|> | by tor-smtp1.netcom.ca (8.8.5/NETCOM) id RAA05482;
|> | Thu, 26 Aug 1998 17:45:42 -0500 (EST)
|> | Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
|> | X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.4 (32)
|> | Subject: sponsorship list
|> | X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
|> | Date: Tue, 6 Jan 98 22:50:53 +0000
|> | Mime-Version: 1.0
|> | Content-Type: Text/Plain; charset="us-ascii"
|> | X-Mozilla-Status: 0001
|> | Content-Length: 1503
|>
|> Well, we're already in trouble, because that's the format Tommi's mailer
|> shows, already altered from mbox format ... no From_ for example (and
maybe
|> there shouldn't be), and look at those indentations.
|
|Oh, sorry, I did the indentations, formatting for readability,
|while scrupulously retaining the content. Not a good science
|habit. An old editor's habit.
|
|Here's her same message, as I received it as a single on AOL.
|The partial row of equal signs under her signature is a list
|footer, but a corrupted one, with several lines missing from
|above that row of equal signs, which itself does not extend
|all the way across its original length. The second set of
|footers(!) looks nearly as it should, except that it's included
|in her single message although it's from the single posting of
|the next poster! The only corruption in that 2nd 3-part footer
|is the leading *two* periods on a blank line, when only one
|period had been inserted there, in my config file.
|
|
|Subj: [CAFG] STEP 10
|Date: 97-10-10 21:43:37 EDT
|From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
|Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
|To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
|
|_________________________________________________________
|.. .
|- CAFG -
|_________________________________________________________
|
|Hi Everyone,
|
|I look at Step 10 as a way to continue to grow and take responsiblity...
|<snip straight text, us-ascii>
|...the screwdriver is. What can I say I'm a work in progress.
|
|Love & Hugs,
|Carol
|
|==========
|.. cafg-REQUEST: INFO .
|* For INFO, e-mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
|* Leave the Subject line blank, or type a period.
|* The body of the message contains exactly one word:
|.. .
|info
|_________________________________________________________
|
|==
|
|Melissa
|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|.. Topic 10/05 - 10/11: STEP 10 .
|
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|In single message, hitting "Reply" sends your response to
|the author of the original message. To write to all 600
|members, type in your "To:" line: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
|=========================================================
|.. cafg-REQUEST: INFO .
|* For INFO, e-mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
|* Leave the Subject line blank, or type a period.
|* The body of the message contains exactly one word:
|.. .
|info
|_________________________________________________________
|
| <<<< end quote >>>>
|
|Melissa's was the post after Carol's. I've never seen
|single messages contaminated, mooshed together this way.
|
|The 3-section footer you see after Melissa's signature, is
|exactly as designed. As you can see, the same footer before
|Melissa's sig, is not missing, but altered. part of the
|line of equal signs is present, but it ends halfway thru.
|
|This kind of corruption of the footers, rather than their
|complete elimination, is what consistently happened in AOL
|with Carol's messages. This seems more complex than if the
|footers are missing completely, now that I think of it.
|
|Note, no row of asterisks or hyphens is visible. Even when
|one fellow's rows of asterisks prematurely ended a digest,
|the asterisks themselves were visible. Same is true of all
|the 30-hyphen and row-of-asterisk markers in digests.
|In plain ascii text digests, anyway, they are visible.
|
|> I wonder if Carol puts a lone period under her name in her .signature,
|> ...Or maybe she uses a row of asterisks...
|
|She said not, and no period or asterisk-row ever was visible.
|
|
|> ...can you send the REST (or at least the next few lines), the part
|> that is cut off after Carol's posts? That would tell us more.
|
|The above single with corrupted footers is the best I have.
|
|> Based on what I know so far, my best suggestion is for the list
administrator
|> to put in a special routine for Carol's posts to indent their bodies one
|> column. I'd have to guess that a single space between the left margin
and
|> whatever is poisonous in her posts would be the appropriate antivenin.
|
|Oooo, interesting idea. I'm not sophisticated enough to make that
|happen automatically, nor is the bestserv list automation software.
|She didn't like being "moderated," so she left. She was a pretty
|good contributor, so if I found an automatic way to handle it, I
|might entice her back, but my posting her messages was my solution
|and she didn't like it at all. Affected her sense of spontaneity and
|autonomy.
|
|Whatever is "poison" in her messages is unique in my list
|experience, and does not seem to be a visible character. Can an
|EOF marker be invisible? And can it cause corruption of footers
|in some cases rather than simply eliminating them outright?
|
|Thanks for all the brainstorming.
|
|Gratefully,
|Tommi Thompson
|mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
