For those of you who don't know, www.bookcase.com keeps an HTML-ified
version of all FAQs posted to news.answers. However it differs from
other sites in that it strips out many of the message headers
(including the "From:" line) and any sig block at the end of the
message. In the specific case of my FAQ posting, this means that the
FAQ now appears to be anonymous!
There may be other FAQ maintainers who rely on the "From:" line and/or
the sig block to supply contact details. Be aware that the copy of
your FAQ stored at bookcase.com contains neither of these items.
I reproduce an exchange of emails below. It is also worth noting that,
despite Chad's assurances, many auxiliary headers go missing as well.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 5 Sep 2000 17:53:40 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Chad M. Fraleigh" <chadf@bookcase.com>
To: S L Painting <postmaster@zedtoo.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Re: FAQ authors
On Tue, 5 Sep 2000, S L Painting wrote:
> I notice that the FAQ pages available from your site have the text
> "Please direct changes to the originating author" at the bottom.
>
> However, since you have removed most of the message headers from the
> front of the message (and the .sig block from the end of the message)
> the author's name will, like as not, be missing altogether.
>
> Could you possibly adjust your HTML converter so that the FAQ author's
> name is preserved?
>
>
> --
> S L Painting <postmaster@zedtoo.demon.co.uk>
>
All FAQ related headers in the real header section are passed
through, and all secondary headers are passed. As for the sig block, since
by definition it is unrelated to the actual content of any particular
message, I always strip this off. And while 90% of users correctly use the
sig block for what it is meant for (and don't assume it means more), there
are some others that post FAQs without explicitly adding POC info to the
body. And yet others may place a non-sig block at the bottom, but delimit
it with a sig block separator.
The most I could do is pass the From: header through, even though
this may only be the person that posts it (if even a person, and not an
automatic program). But really, those who write FAQs should be the ones
that fix the problem, by specifically stating in the body who maintains
it, and not allow for any assumptions.
-Chad
---------- End forwarded message ----------
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