[Ads-l] Garbling, redux - and how I fixed it for me

Mon Mar 28 13:53:01 UTC 2016

Just for reference, the default value for ADS-L was in fact FULLHDR; DUALHDR was given as a backup possibility but it shouldn't have ever been used. In the past, certain mail clients did want this but as the document below states, nowadays everyone should be using FULLHDR. I did change the default to disallow DUALHDR (though you could deliberately request it), so any new subscription should be correct.

There's apparently no way to change this in bulk for all users. If you have been receiving garbled messages and are having trouble setting FULLHDR, please get in touch with me directly and I'll try to help you out.

Jesse Sheidlower
ADS-L

On Sat, Mar 26, 2016 at 10:07:21AM -0500, Dave Hause wrote:
> When I looked at old messages, I didn't have this problem before I changed
> email addresses in May, 2012.  When I re-subscribed, my messages from ADS-L
> came with this "---- Information from the mail header ---" banner and I also
> got garbling, which I learned to live with.  I wondered if it was related to
> my configuration with the UGA LISTSERV program and went hunting to find
> this:
> http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/16.0/htmlhelp/site managers/LSCommands.html
> which has the name and definition for this function "DUALhdr – Dual short
> headers, useful with older mail programs which do not preserve the RFC822
> return email address."
> 
> There is also this "Documented Restriction: The use of the SHORTHDR or
> DUALHDR options will break messages that depend on MIME encoding, because
> these options strip the RFC822 headers that identify the message as a MIME
> message. SHORTHDR and DUALHDR were designed for the non-MIME mail clients
> which prevailed in LISTSERV's early history. As most mail clients today
> support MIME, the use of these options is now deprecated."  and this
> "FULLhdr – "Full" mail headers, (default) containing all of the routing
> information."
> 
> So I decided to see what would happen if I reset my subscription to the
> default condition and since then, no more garbled messages.  Here's how I
> did it:
> Send a message (no subject line needed) to the list PROGRAM (not the list)
> at  LISTSERV at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU with the message "SET ADS-L FULLhdr"
> And, now, clean messages.
> 
> Dave Hause, dwhause at cablemo.net
> Waynesville, MO
> 
> -----Original Message----- From: David Champion
> Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2016 5:45 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Garbling, redux [Re: misuse of "permutation"]
> 
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       David Champion <dgc.ads at BIKESHED.US>
> Subject:      Garbling, redux [Re: misuse of "permutation"]
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Sorry to hijack this, but on the subject of message garbling here's
> another kind that I've noticed before.  Again this is because of
> a dropped header; this time it's
> 
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
> 
> But compounding the problem is the insertion of the "---- Information
> from the mail header ---" banner.  That actually prevents any rational
> mail reader from ever decoding this, even if you put the C-T-E header
> back in place.
> 
> 
> Here's what Jim actually wrote:
> * On 24 Mar 2016, James A. Landau wrote:
> >On  Wed, 23 Mar 2016 21:09:28 Zone-0400 Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> >quoted:
> >
> >Macworld.com
> >Forensics expert says FBI to use NAND-mirroring to crack terrorist's
> >iPhone
> >"... Farookb
> Herre's wha iPhone used a four-digit passcode, which would result in
> >10,000 permutations, a low enough number to be possible _to
> >brute-force_
> >using NAND-mirroring ..."
> >http://goo.gl/bmg4XX
> >
> >There are exactly 24 permutations of a four-digit passcode.  The
> >writer meant to say that there are 10,000 *possible passcodes*.
> >
> >    - Jim Landau
> 
> 
> And here's what most(?) of us see:
> * On 24 Mar 2016, James A. Landau wrote:
> >---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >-----------------------
> >Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >Poster:       "James A. Landau" <JJJRLandau at NETSCAPE.COM>
> >Subject:      misuse of "permutation"
> >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >T24gIFdlZCwgMjMgTWFyIDIwMTYgMjE6MDk6MjggWm9uZS0wNDAwIFdpbHNvbiBHcmF5IDxod2dy
> >YXlAR01BSUwuQ09NPiBxdW90ZWQ6DQoNCk1hY3dvcmxkLmNvbQ0KRm9yZW5zaWNzIGV4cGVydCBz
> >YXlzIEZCSSB0byB1c2UgTkFORC1taXJyb3JpbmcgdG8gY3JhY2sgdGVycm9yaXN0J3MgDQppUGhv
> >bmUNCiIuLi4gRmFyb29r4oCZcyBpUGhvbmUgdXNlZCBhIGZvdXItZGlnaXQgcGFzc2NvZGUsIHdo
> >aWNoIHdvdWxkIHJlc3VsdCBpbg0KMTAsMDAwIHBlcm11dGF0aW9ucywgYSBsb3cgZW5vdWdoIG51
> >bWJlciB0byBiZSBwb3NzaWJsZSBfdG8gYnJ1dGUtZm9yY2VfDQp1c2luZyBOQU5ELW1pcnJvcmlu
> >ZyAuLi4iDQpodHRwOi8vZ29vLmdsL2JtZzRYWA0KDQpUaGVyZSBhcmUgZXhhY3RseSAyNCBwZXJt
> >dXRhdGlvbnMgb2YgYSBmb3VyLWRpZ2l0IHBhc3Njb2RlLiAgVGhlIHdyaXRlciBtZWFudCB0byBz
> >YXkgdGhhdCB0aGVyZSBhcmUgMTAsMDAwICpwb3NzaWJsZSBwYXNzY29kZXMqLg0KDQogICAgLSBK
> >aW0gTGFuZGF1DQoNCl9fX19fX19fX19fX19fX19fX19fX19fX19fX19fX19fX19fX19fX19fX19f
> >X19fX19fX19fX19fX19fX18NCk5ldHNjYXBlLiAgSnVzdCB0aGUgTmV0IFlvdSBOZWVkLg0KDQot
> >LS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0t
> >LS0NClRoZSBBbWVyaWNhbiBEaWFsZWN0IFNvY2lldHkgLSBodHRwOi8vd3d3LmFtZXJpY2FuZGlh
> >bGVjdC5vcmcNCg==
> 
> 
> I believe that LISTSERV is also responsible for breaking the threading
> of messages ("conversations" in Google lingo) so that new messages
> appear as unrelated in some recipients' mailboxes.
> 
> 
> And, ObADS: I see frequent substitution of "permutation" for
> "combination" as well, but that's probably old news.
> 
> -- 
> David Champion â€¢ dgc at bikeshed.us
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org