mark lewis wrote in a message to Thom LaCosta:


 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...

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

 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... 

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

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

If you or anyone else doesn't  agree with how the Echolist operates, 
or how I administer it, you can:

A. Stop using it
B. Accept it for what it is and how it works
C. Do what I did....start your own....prove to the moderators that it really
   works.
   
If you, or anyone else can come up with a better product, we'll see:

1. Submissions to the current Echolist will grow less and less
2. Submissions to the new Echolist will grow more and more
3. At some point, 1:1/21 will be assigned to the Echolist that is the
   most used.

Of course many of the people who have the same software as I have, will
find they have similar problems....and many of the folks that complain
about the software I use will complain about the "new" Echolist,
if it uses the same software.

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

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


cya,
thom
http://www.echolist.net/ 
--- GEcho 1.20/Pro