Cyndi Norman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> Well first of all I refuse to change something that's worked well for me
for years just because AOL can't handle it. For the same reason, I won't
use HTML to surround a perfectly good (and plain) URL just because the AOL
mailer appearently doesn't do what every other mailer does (point and click
or cut and paste). <<
I agree with you on the second point, but as the the first (don't change
anything just because it fails on AOL), my own philosophy is that my members
come FIRST and everything else (including software fashions and ISP loyalty)
comes second. If a software incompatibility (of my own doing or somebody
else's) interferes with a major segment of users, I will act to change or
avoid it -- not simply say "well SquizList 9.71 does it right so those users
can all go get a better provider."
>> The real problem is the authentication message for my mailing list
software. If I want to run my lists at best.com (and I do) then I have to
use their software and it uses angle brackets in the subject header.
Adding a period causes authentication to fail and then all these AOLers run
to me to subscribe them by hand. <<
Yes, this appears to be a BestServ software problem. Specifically, when you
join a list using the web based interface (and/or email, maybe) you get a
message of the form
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: List Auth Request ID=<x396c6c83.717.tMNmXtp3> REJECT
and when you Reply, BestServ wants to see _exactly_ that string in the
Subject, or no dice. That's a silly thing to do - they should have used a
regexp scannable ID string and look for it in subject or body ignoring
delimiters.
I am sure that BestServ could be fixed (at least to ignore a leading . in
the ID) with a one line change, but a meta-problem is that Verio just bought
Best, so it may be difficult to get anybody to release a modified version of
the software.
Another tactic you could try is to provide your own Web based interface
where AOL users receiving a confirm could cut and paste it into your own
textbox and hit Submit to complete the registration. Your CGI could strip
the ID appropriately and forge a confirming mail.
>> Even if I had any control over that software (the person at Best who
wrote
it no longer works there and best has never alloted staff hours to mailing
lists) I consider it AOL's problem, not Best's. <<
I disagree, because MLM authors have a duty to avoid relying on dangerous
syntaxes like BestServ's pointy-delimited ID string. It's much harder for
AOL to try and be "super-smart" to protect its members from malicious HTML
while not ruffling a hair on BestServ's head, than it is for BestServ to get
a clue and generate a more vanilla confirm ID (and be more generous about
parsing for it afterwards).
