Checksum: 18470
Lines: 41
Path: utzoo!sq!msb
From: msb@sq.uucp (Mark Brader)
Date: Fri, 23-Sep-88 12:27:56 EDT
Message-ID: <1988Sep23.122756.22442@sq.uucp>
Newsgroups: news.software.b
Subject: Re: need patch for controlling cross-posted articles
References:   <14487@agate.BERKELEY.EDU>
Reply-To: msb@sq.com (Mark Brader)
Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto

> >In 3.0, the Newsgroups line on a followup is truncated to the first group
> >unless the '-C' option has been given to postnews.
> 
> Gnews does this too.  No flag is available to change this. ...

This is absolutely the wrong thing to do.  The Newsgroups line specifies
a *set* of newsgroups, all equivalent; there has never been any understanding
that one was more important than the rest.

The result of this behavior is that people who read a message first in a
group which is not the one mentioned first, and post a followup, will not
find the article in the place they thought they were following up to, and
will probably post it again!

The *right* thing to do is for the posting software to *warn* people when
they're posting

	[1] a followup to a cross-posted article, or
	[2] a followup to any article with a followup-to line,

and give them an extra chance to change the Newsgroups line.
This should happen after they have edited the article body.

The posting program should also *demand* a Followup-To line on all
cross-posted articles, whether originating or followups.  This again
should happen *after* the article body is prepared.  And any time the
user specifies a Followup-To line different from the Newsgroups line, it
should then ask:

	Would you like to re-edit the message, to include a warning
	telling what your Followup-To line says?

If you're going to apply a fix, apply the right fix!

And while you're at it, I further suggest that after people have edited
the message, they should be reminded of the Subject line and given a
chance to change that, and then be prompted for a Summary line.

Mark Brader, SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, utzoo!sq!msb, msb@sq.com
		"Everything that can be invented has been invented."
		-- Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. patent office, 1899