ml>> how long would it take you to figure out that having 50
 ml>> dashes as a header line in your rules files was causing them
 ml>> to be truncated?

 RW> 5ms...

 RW> Number one, you don't send rules files in an email, you send
 RW> them as an attachment. In netmail, you send the file.

yeah?

===== quote ELFAQ.TXT from ELIST405.ZIP =====

RULES SUBMISSIONS - IMPORTANT CHANGE
    To insure proper submission of rules files, the rules text MUST
    be incorporated in the body of the message to the Echolist Robot,
    rather than as a file attachment.  The message should be
    addressed to:
    echolist 1:1/21
    subject: MOD RUL
    The text of the message MUST begin with:
    TAG the_tag_name
    PASSword the_echo_tag_password
    RULEText Rules for area the_tag_name
    Text line of Rules
    next line of rule

    NOTE: The ECHOMOD application produces the MOD RUL messages in
          the proper format.

RULES FILES VIA INTERNET

    Rules files may be submitted to the Echolist Robot either as a
    standard MOD RUL message or, in the case of very large rules
    files, they may be sent to rulesin AT fido261.qis.net.  If the later
    method is used, the second line of the message must specify the
    name of the rules file as it it listed in the MOD UPD message.
    Rules files submitted in this manner will NOT generate a
    confirmation message to the submitter.

========== end quote =====

it doesn't say that up there... "standard MOD RUL message"...
however, i do think that i'm going to try the rulesin address so that i can
specify the filename as that has been one of my complaints, too... i've
never had any rules files that the base name was more than 8 characters but
since i was told to move my updates to email, something else has been
choosing the name for the rules files and its not been doing it properly...


 RW>>>  I just recently updated my echoes and had
 RW>>> no problems, here or there.

 ml>> the only problem i've had recently is the one that started
 ml>> the bruhaha with the spammer response code... the one i
 ml>> mention above with the dashes has been ongoing for several
 ml>> years... we talked about it a few times and then nothing...
 ml>> he's written me and told me that my submissions were locking
 ml>> up his system when they haven't changed at all in quite a
 ml>> few years and are the same exact files used to do the
 ml>> updates via netmail...

 RW> If the TITLE of the echo and the password hasn't changed, why
 RW> bother with sending the whole thing.

its all automated so it is nothing and the cost is negligible... even when
i was doing it via POTS, i always send in everything...

[trim]

 ml>> i even set up the echolist software on my system and used it
 ml>> to submit updates and he said that they were locking up his
 ml>> system and to use that software to do the updates...

 RW> [....]

 ml>> hunh? and then when i've explained more than once that i was
 ml>> using the software and had the same files imported into it
 ml>> that had been being submitted for years, again, i'm met with
 ml>> silence and denial...

 RW> Have you tried setting up the robot software and updating
 RW> your echos with that software?  If it happens to you, maybe
 RW> you can figure out what you're doing that causes it.

the robot software? you mean the stuff that thom uses on his end to convert
the netmails to something that can be imported into the program? no, i
don't have it and he's never made it available, TTBOMK... from what i know,
it could be something that just grabs the body of the netmail MSG...
whatever it is, i know that it has a problem with detecting tearlines...
i've seen it before in shoddily written code and saw similar things in the
software i installed... things that shouldn't have the types of problems i
was seeing... in any case, a tearline is three dashes and a space...
anything else is not a tearline... that's simple enough to code and the
problem can easily be fixed in the code with the addition of one
character...

 RW> It's been a while, but I think this is how you change
 RW> passwords.

 RW> PASS -oldpassword newpassword

 ml>>  heck, i've asked for clarification on a few points is the
 ml>> help files that he publishes with the echolist and have
 ml>> still not gotten any clarification... now if i can just
 ml>> figure out how to get my rules files to be saved with their
 ml>> proper filenames, maybe i'll be one more step closer to the
 ml>> end of whatever winding twisted trail it is that i seem to
 ml>> be wandering on...

 RW> Welp. The rules files themselves mean diddley squat to the
 RW> robot software, unless they're an open file, as in the body
 RW> of your email or netmail. Send them as an attached file and
 RW> see if that works.

the old method of sending them attached to a netmail message worked fine
and i presume it still does... i was told to start using email for my
updates due to the elist system not answering the phone at times... thom
told me to switch over to email so i went thru and reconfigured everything
over here to start sending everything via my gateway... the updates aren't
so bad but the rules files were a bit tougher and since i've also got the
PGP echos and those rules files are signed, that added yet another twist to
the setup...

 RW> If you don't have the robot software, I do. I'd be glad to
 RW> send it to you.

which robot software? the stuff that the records are in or the one that
reads the netmails and pulls out the updates and rules?

)\/(ark