[WEB4LIB] Attachments are now stripped

[Andrew K. Pace]

It also strips HTML.  In my recent post, I created a link to "recent thread" that
pulled up the web4lib archive search.  I did this as a convenience to email apps
that could read the link, knowing that it would not harm those that could not.
There was also no indication (other than the fact that I got replies) that the
text of my message had indeed been sent.  This seems like a little more than
stripping attachments.
-Andrew

Roy Tennant wrote:

> In the wake of the Melissa virus recirculating, SunSITE system
> administrators implemented a script that automatically strips
> attachments from Web4Lib postings. The Web4Lib Posting Policy (see
> http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Web4Lib/#Policy ) has long discouraged
> attachments; now they are simply forbidden.
>
> The way this works is that a software filter examines each message
> for lines that start 'Content-type:'. If one of those lines does not
> also include 'text/plain', 'message', or 'multipart/digest', it
> erases that line and from that line to the end of the message.
>
> When the filter erases an attachment, it inserts the following in the message:
>
> * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
> *         ---REMAINDER OF MESSAGE TRUNCATED---            *
> *     This post contains a forbidden message format       *
> *  (such as an attached file, a v-card, HTML formatting)  *
> *    This mail list only accepts PLAIN TEXT               *
> * If your postings display this message your mail program *
> *   may not be set to send PLAIN TEXT ONLY and may need   *
> *                      adjusting                          *
> * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
>
> To show you what this looks like, I am sending an attachment along
> with this message. Please let me know if you have any questions.
> Roy Tennant
> Web4Lib Owner
>
>   ------------------------------------------------------------
> * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
> *         ---REMAINDER OF MESSAGE TRUNCATED---            *
> *     This post contains a forbidden message format       *
> *  (such as an attached file, a v-card, HTML formatting)  *
> *    This mail list only accepts PLAIN TEXT               *
> * If your postings display this message your mail program *
> *   may not be set to send PLAIN TEXT ONLY and may need   *
> *                      adjusting                          *
> * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Andrew K. Pace
Assistant Head, Systems ~ NCSU Libraries
North Carolina State University ~ Raleigh, NC
andrew_pace at ncsu.edu ~ 919-515-3087
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