TL> I really can't remember....were you the one that complained about
 TL> the robot using --- and an eom marker?

 ml> yes and no... i was the one complaining about the robot taking ANY
 ml> series of three dashes as the EOM marker...

 TL> That's how it works....whether or not you or I like it.

well, it is wrong and i tried to explain that to you... it is wrong in the
same manner that other (a lot of C code) was wrong in FTN message
processing and doing the same thing... FTN message processing packages that
did get fixed or were thrown into the bit bucket... that's the coder's
fault and they should fix it... if they cannot, then another app must be
developed that does work properly... finding a coder willing to do such, in
this day in time, is not going to be easy :? :(

 TL> Whoever it was, sure took up a lot of time telling me the robot was
 TL> wrong and did not comply with something or other.

 ml> yes, that was me... the three dashes EOM marker -=*MUST*=- start at
 ml> the first column /and/ must only be =three= dashes not four or
 ml> more... in other words, my 75 dashes lines should never be seen as
 ml> an EOM marker... especially not when it is at the top of a message
 ml> that has 100 more lines following it... 

 TL> It MUST -=ONLY=- if we adhere to Fidonet standards....but as I've
 TL> said for years, the Echolist is NOT part of Fidonet.  

WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG

show me ANT other network where three dashes in a post is read as the EOM
marker... i've read the specs and there's simply not one out there that
does... not WWIV, usenet, RIME/PCRelay, QWK, FTN, etc... etc... etc... the
only real difference is that some use two dashes instead of three but they
ALL require that the EOM marker start in column 0...

 TL> I seem to recall telling you this before, and suggesting that you
 TL> NOT use a string of dashes within your rules file. I also remember
 TL> some very small rules files because the author INSISTED on using
 TL> long lines of dashes in the body of the text.

yes... and i did change my separator lines to -=-=-=-=-= format... but the
problem still remains and others have fallen into it... not only for the
rules embedded in the message but also in the echotag's descriptions...

[CHOMP]

 TL> In all the years I've been doing this I can not remember anyone
 TL> offering any software to run the echolist.  I can remember a few
 TL> attempts to use diffferent software, but they never panned out.

i don't wonder why... speaking for myself, the reasons were several fold...
part of them being the interactions between us and how you kept being so
negative and seeing things as an attack and thus becoming defensive (to an
extreme?) as you did in the above [CHOMPed] section... i was very willing,
at that time, to provide a completely new and properly working package but
not with the way things were going then and it looks like they're going in
that same direction once again :? :(

 TL> Frankly, I think new software is needed.  I'm open to using it of
 TL> someone wants to develop and support it(Which is how Dana Bell and
 TL> I operated when we first thought of having a replacement Echolist
 TL> when Fido-HiJinks and power-plays threatened the concept of a
 TL> listing service).

you have a funny way of showing that thought of needing new software...
that's for sure...

do you have any specific requirements? would the use of a real database be
out of the question? must it all be compiled binary code or is web code a
possibility?

we /might/ be able to salvage this but then i have to wonder if the work
involved will be of any real and true benefit to the network as a whole...

)\/(ark