Subject: [1586] Multiple POSTED in Path: header

From: "Charles Lindsey" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2009 12:56:51 GMT

3.4.1 of the present draft contains:

A proto-article has the same format as a normal article except that
the Injection-Info and Xref header fields MUST NOT be present; the
Path header field SHOULD NOT contain a "POSTED" <diag-keyword>; and
any of the following mandatory header fields MAY be omitted:
Message-ID, Date, and Path. In all other respects, a proto-article
MUST be a valid Netnews article. In particular, the header fields
which may be omitted MUST NOT be present with invalid content.

That "SHOULD NOT" was formerly "MUST NOT", so it is an improvement.

But I propose changing it to:

.. the Path header field MAY contain a "POSTED" <diag-keyword>; ...

and adding a NOTE such as the following:

   NOTE: Whereas the presence of two "POSTED" <diag-keyword>s will often
   indicate a malicious attempt to disguise the true origin of an article,
   it could also arise following some ususual gatewaying or injecting
   scenario (taking advantage of the "MAY contain" above), in which case
   it could be useful for detecting unintended loops or mismanaged
   gateways. The whole intent of these <path-diagnostic)s is to assist
   humans in assessing unusual situations, and it would be unwise for
   subsequent agents automatically to assume one possibility or the other.

Essentially, I am arguing for not throwing away any information which might
be of subsequent diagnostic use, possibly at the expense of making people
think a bit before accusing posters of trollery. It is up to the "netkops"
to deal with these issues, and our draft should not try to prejudge their
efforts.

-- 
Charles H. Lindsey ---------At Home, doing my own thing------------------------
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