MK> the part of the MSGID after the space, and then add the two
 MK> digit year (0 - 99) and it would be unique for over a hundred
 MK> years for the low cost of two bytes to the total msg length.
 MK> A lousy two stinkin' bytes would have made all the difference
 MK> in the world.  Sigh.

but then it wouldn't have been storable in a longint ;)

ya gotta remember when this stuff was developed and what languages were
being used... (borland) pascal was one of the most common... basic and c
were also used with c getting more use as time marched on...

if one takes a good look at structures for many FTN tools, apps, and even
bbs', one can easily see the pascal influence by the data structures
used...

)\/(ark