On 2022 Aug 10 06:02:04, you wrote to me:

 ML>> really? you weren't around for the "tearline wars"? that's where the
 ML>> tearl strippers and retear tools came from... those then lead directly
 ML>> to the PID/TID specification to eliminate the unwanted advertising in
 ML>> tearlines t was being done... especially the "unregistered" part...

 TM> I've been around since 1993 ... I honestly don't remeber that ... maybe we
 TM> were a good local group in my area and all used GEcho. :)

maybe... i don't recall when it was really going on but it definitely did... the main idea behind them was to strip the tearlines of any text or to retear them with some text the sysop wanted rather then advertising "XXX software [unregistered]" which some people found annoying or offensive...

it really got going when it was discovered that some software would place a tearline, another software would replace it with something else, and maybe another one would, too... of course, the last one in the line won and that was generally the tosser unless the sysop set up some post-processing thing after the tosser was done... yeah, it got rather ugly...

FWIW: fastecho has the option built in... i used to use it so all messages posted from my system didn't have tearlines at all... they're not required by the spec so ;)

)\/(ark

"The soul of a small kitten in the body of a mighty dragon. Look on my majesty, ye mighty, and despair! Or bring me catnip. Your choice. Oooh, a shiny thing!"
... He who dies with the most toys can't take any with him.
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