Re: RESULT : Create moderated newsgroup uk.rec.cycling.moderatedPASSES 128:24

In MsgID<ler8c55tj001j5keseai27pv5muiio5u16@xxxxxxx> on Thu, 01 Oct 2009
10:25:58 +0100, in uk.net.news.config, 'Geoff Berrow' wrote:

On Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:41:10 +0000 (UTC), Jon Ribbens
<jon+usenet@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Well I am curious as to why he thinks that.

For the obvious reason that HTML is not plain text, therefore it is
"binary".

Only because there is a convention that text marked up in a certain
way can be interpreted differently. If I invent my own markup like
this:

{bold}The quick {font colour=brown}brown{/font} fox jumps over the
lazy dog{/bold}

does this post suddenly become a binary? Likewise PHP, Javascript, ASP
etc

The word that's missing (if folk really want to pedantically adjust the
guidelines to point to something dissection-proof) is 'Encoding'

The word 'binaries' is very blurry, I would take it to mean anything that
must be transferred as an identical (byte for byte) copy but it's not
really enough to be watertight on its own.

The root of it all is that NNTP is supposed to be a seven bit medium. I
can't remember (and cba to look) if that's a part of the RFC or merely
used to be a limitation of the servers. ISTR the former, even though most
server programs these days are actually capable of carrying 8-bit, as an
added extra.

This is the reason for the UUEncoding (or more fashionably these days yenc
encoding) of 8 bit binaries before posting them.


Now HTML certainly qualifies as a form of encoding. Although I await
correction if I'm wrong I *think* it too is designed to be transmissible
over a 7-bit medium. However, even if not, it certainly allows for the
inclusion of what would be 'wide characters' over other media, This is
done by encoding these characters. HTML also supports coloured text of
assorted fonts and styles. These attributes are also encoded within.

Some forms of encoding don't touch the parts that don't need to be
touched; so the bits that would transfer correctly without encoding are
included 'as is' - this means that if the file being encoded contains only
7 bit ascii then it will be readable without a decoder. However, if it
contains the tags which would trigger a decoder then it *is* still
encoded.

A readme.txt file, containing only simple characters, encoded under the
MIME standard, would be easily readable without decoding, but it is
*still* encoded.

I've kept quiet because I've seen this debate so many times and for some
reason people never seem able to agree. However, it's now reached the
point where I've kinda gotta sling my 2 p'orth at the mix.

IMHO the 'correct' prohibition would be something like

****
No encoded formats are permitted. This includes MIME encoding, RTF
Postscript, HTML, UUenc or any of the 8 bit file encoding standards.
Messages should be directly readable as ascii text and should not contain
sequences designed to trigger automated decoding.
****

Any opinions from anyone? How close is the above?

The instruction in the mandatory design rules would have to be something
like

****
This clause must be included unless there is an unusual exception in the
subject of the group that somehow renders it contradictory with the
purpose of the group. This contradiction would require discussion within
the group formation process before an altered clause could be included
instead.
****

I'm not that expert at wording formal instructions, but I'm sure the
idea's plain (text?) enough.

Dave J.
.

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