Subject: #1042 USEFOR 3.1.5 Newsgroups folding - resolution proposal

From: Harald Tveit Alvestrand <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 29 Jun 2005 13:38:47 +0200

Suggested addition to section 3.1.5:

Folding the Newsgroups: header field over several header lines has been 
shown to harm propagation significantly. Folded Newsgroups header fields 
SHOULD NOT be generated, but MUST be accepted.

The only valid reason identified at this time for generating folded 
Newsgroups header fields is to test propagation of articles using that 
feature.

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From: Russ Allbery <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 29 Jun 2005 10:37:22 -0700

> Newsgroups header fields is to test propagation of articles using that

Looks good to me.

-- 
Russ Allbery ([email-masked])             <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>

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From: "Charles Lindsey" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2005 19:06:08 GMT

>Newsgroups header fields is to test propagation of articles using that 

I agree with the intent, but not with the wording. But at least we seem to
be settling for SHOULD NOT generate both for this case and for comments in
References, which is certainly consistent.

The problem is not that "folding over several header lines has been shown
to harm propagation", but that it has hitherto been totally excluded from
the syntax. Therefore, we need to say that it is a "newly introduced
feature with little support in current implementations". And then you say
it "MUST be accepted but SHOULD NOT be generated" (adding "at the present
time", or other qualifying wording if you wish).

And I would omit the paragraph about "to test propagation of articles".
Implementor know how to do that without being told.

-- 
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