New Dispensation

[Wendell Cochran atrypa@xxxxxxxx]

This concerns the mailing list, not XyWrite _per se_.

I use Netscape 4.61 under Linux as my e-mail program, with no
recent change in configuration. . . . I subscribe to the digest
version of the Xy-List; that is, posts arrive not singly but in
batches. Until recently I had only to scroll downward to read the
lot.

Perhaps a month ago a batch arrived in a form new to me, a form that
has persisted (& spread to other lists). First comes a directory for
the batch, with this pattern:

(1) Re: gripe gripe gripe
     by Wendell Cochran
   

Below the directory is a corresponding list of boxes, numbered as

Part 1.2.1 | (no headers)

[The Part number is in blue, underlined, & if clicked the post opens
in a new window.]

'(no headers)' is new as of last week. Earlier it ran

Type: message/rfc822
Encoding: quoted-printable

I do know about the IETF's Requests for Comment; I do recognize
references to Content-Type. And I'd better add that this list just
happened to be the first to bring the phenomenon to me; every day or
so
brings new examples, mostly in lists but now & then by individuals.
(For Content-Type, the individuals commonly specify
'multipart/alternative'.)

Now: Carl Distefano didn't do it. In fact, every sender questioned
so far -- I mean non-Xy senders, too -- has pleaded innocent & even
ignorant. . . . It seems that the Sys Adm at upenn.edu has changed
Content-Type to 'multipart/mixed', but why I can't tell you.

Does anyone else find this nuisance worth remark?

Wendell Cochran
West Seattle