Errors-to: owner-drums@CS.UTK.EDU
Message-Id: <199509250154.VAA03031@CS.UTK.EDU>
Date:        Mon, 25 Sep 1995 02:39:12 +0100
From: Eric Thomas <ERIC@SEARN.SUNET.SE>
Subject:     Re: Comments and Resent-* header fields
To: Robert Elz <kre@munnari.oz.au>
cc: drums@CS.UTK.EDU
In-Reply-To: Message of Mon, 25 Sep 1995 11:37:06 +1000 from Robert Elz
             <kre@munnari.OZ.AU>

On Mon, 25 Sep 1995 11:37:06 +1000 Robert Elz <kre@munnari.OZ.AU> said:

>    You can't  "clarify" that,  say, mail  servers must  ignore Resent-*
>    fields when  major mail servers  have been doing the  exact opposite
>    for 9 years and there is no alternative solution available *today*.
>
>Of course we can, if that is  the desire. Like any standard it will take
>time to be sensibly adopted (like  your US butter example), but having a
>standard that says the right things allows the world to move towards the
>desired end  (users can point  out to the mail  server owner that  it is
>violating the standard, they can point it out to its author, perhaps the
>server will be  fixed, perhaps it will be replaced,  perhaps in the long
>run the standard will be ignored).

I could have  sworn I'd said no alternative solution  is available to the
usage you'd like  to get rid of? I'm also  surprised you haven't realized
that my  US butter example was  pure sarcasm. My experience  is that most
people in the US don't even know that one kilogram is roughly two pounds.
One day,  being asked  whether I  wanted a  12oz or  16oz drink,  and not
having a clue, I'd  asked the waiter and then the 5  people who were with
me how many cl  this was, but they didn't have a  clue either. There were
as many  theories as  there were people  volunteering one.  Some actually
thought a  cl was  more than a  fl oz.  All they could  come up  with was
"small  bottle" vs  "medium bottle",  but  my experience  of "small"  and
"medium" cokes in cinemas had taught  me that this doesn't mean anything.
So I asked how these sizes compared to a pint, and this they knew. That's
how well the  metric system has been adopted. People  know it exists, and
that's it. And the butter, well, now  they have to say 453g in fine print
somewhere. It's  very much like a  Surgeon General Warning, if  you want.
They print it because  they have to, and nobody cares.  If you think this
is a desirable and sensible way to implement a standard, well, certainly,
be my guest and clarify whatever you want.

  Eric