[Mailman-Users] How about this for the error message?

[Dan Delaney]

This is what Mailman returns for by sig if I don't put an "end"
command":


>>>> --Dan
**** --dan: Command UNKNOWN.

>>>> ____________________________________________________________________________
**** ____________________________________________________________________________: Command UNKNOWN.

>>>> Daniel G. Delaney  *  Dionysos at Dionysia.org  *  www.Dionysia.org/~dionysos
**** daniel: Command UNKNOWN.

>>>> PGP Public Key: http://Dionysia.org/~dionysos/pgp5.html
**** pgp: Command UNKNOWN.

>>>> "Only two things are infinite: the universe and stupidity--
**** "only: Command UNKNOWN.

>>>> and I'm not sure about the former."
**** and: Command UNKNOWN.

>>>> --Albert Einstein
**** --albert: Command UNKNOWN.


That's pretty darn obtrusive, and a little daunting to average Joe
Shmoe computer user who gets nervous when the computer starts
yelling at him about errors. So, how about the following instead?


Unrecognized line: --Dan
Unrecognized line: _______________________________
Unrecognized line: Daniel G. Delaney  *  Dionysos@
Unrecognized line: PGP Public Key: http://Dionysia
Unrecognized line: "Only two things are infinite: 
Unrecognized line: and I'm not sure about the form
Unrecognized line: --Albert Einstein


That's so much easier to look at, and it conveys the message--that
the mail server didn't recognize those lines. Note that it should
only returns the first 40 or so characters of the line instead of
the whole thing.

Here's another idea. Petidomo will STOP parsing the message for
commands if it gets FOUR unrecognized lines in a row. I think that's
a pretty darn good idea. You could even simply put a little message
after the fourth "Unrecognized line" message that says
"Ignoring remainder of message."

What's everyone think? Should this idea go to the dev list instead?
If so, could someone who's also on that list please forward it over
there?

   Cheers.
 --Dan
____________________________________________________________________________
 Daniel G. Delaney  *  Dionysos at Dionysia.org  *  www.Dionysia.org/~dionysos
 PGP Public Key: http://Dionysia.org/~dionysos/pgp5.html

     "Only two things are infinite: the universe and stupidity--
      and I'm not sure about the former."
                                          --Albert Einstein