On Thu, 26 Feb 2015, Michiel van der Vlist wrote to mark lewis:

 MvdV>> Puting a req on hold does not make much sense to me, so let the 
 MvdV>> *.req do it all by itself.

 ml> why not?

 MvdV> When I am hunting for a file, I do not want to wait for the 
 MvdV> other system to call in.

when you've made the req, there is no more hunting... you've already found it
and requested it from a/the system that has it...

 ml>  we used to do that all the time...

 MvdV> "used to" past tense....

we still do it, too... present tense...

 ml>  then the remote would pick it up and deliver the file on its 
 ml> dime...

 MvdV> I never did that. It was considered annoying behaviour in this 
 MvdV> part of the world. And rightly so...

maybe, maybe not... i don't mind delivering files to others when i connected to
them for mail delivery on my dime... i didn't when i was POTS only and i
certainly don't now... as already noted, there was an option created
specifically to prevent this is you didn't like it...

 ml> that's why there was created the mailer option to not pick up file 
 ml> requests that may be waiting at the remote...

 MvdV> And that file may even be a mail bomb. It has happened...

how can a file request (req) be a mail bomb? that has not happened before...
sure, someone might create a garbage file with an extension of .req and send it
to your system but that's not a mail bomb... mail bombs are mail archives that
expand much larger than they would normally...

 MvdV> If the possibility to put file requests on holf had not been
 MvdV> created in the first place, there would have been no need to
 MvdV> build a defence against it would there?

apparently the capability was desired since it was created... that creation
might have been a side effect of the flo technology but it was still a
capability that was created...

 MvdV> Of course that is all water under the bridge. Now that cost has
 MvdV> dropped to virtually zero, there is no need any more to consider
 MvdV> file request on hold as annoying. But then there is no incentive
 MvdV> to do it at all is there? The requester may as will pick up the
 MvdV> zero cost himself...

not everyone has zero cost for their internet connections... there are still
many on metered connections... placing reqs on hold may still be desirable to
some... you and i are not the ones to determine that nor are we the ones to
tell others they cannot do that...

[trim]

 MvdV> Does your car still have a crank to start it by hand in case of 
 MvdV> a broken starter engine or low battery? My last car with that 
 MvdV> functionallity was a Volkswagen Beetle form the 60ties...

actually, yes, we do still have an original VW Bug...

 ml> that "you" are advocating reversing all the technical capabilities 
 ml> that have been developed over the years while we climbed out of 
 ml> the stone age... "you" are wanting to return to the stone age

 MvdV> On the contrary. I want to leave the stone age behind ond move 
 MvdV> on the 21st century.

then you are using the wrong mailer technology... BSO is about as stoneage as
you can get... the only thing modern about this mailer is its transfer
mechanism... nothing more... so back to that analogy... you want an electric
powered horse cart with solid wooden wheels :) 

 MvdV>> As it is, it is an illogical mix of both...

 ml> i don't know why... the best of both worlds and capabilities...

 MvdV> Not the best of both words, the burden of both worlds....

your blinders are on backwards, my friend...

)\/(ark