Archives????????

[Andy Rudoff]

>I dont think the pictures show up, unless they are posted directly to
>files.ptg.org.... at least not as pictures.
>
>Tho this would be the best and easiest way from a users point of view. Just include
>illustrations and pictures in a post and the server automatically strips non text
>and establishes a link to its storage location. I dont know how doable that is tho.
>I suppose Kent or Andy would have thought of this if it was possible.

Great minds do think alike.  We have thought of this and I agree it
is an excellent idea.  It would require modifying the "Mailman" software
we use to run the list, and I just haven't had time to do it.  But
having the software automatically move large attachments to somewhere
in the archives and then send out the message with only the link to
the attachment is a great idea.  Someday I will get to it (or the people
who wrote Mailman will get to it first and I'll pick up their change).

It is probably worth explaining how pictures work on this list:

Every time someone posts to pianotech@ptg.org, the list software first
checks for any virus attachments.  If the list software thinks an
attachment might be a virus, the post is held until someone
on the ECC either approves it, or deletes it.  We catch *lots*
of virus posts this way.  In fact, pianotech has not been successfully
used to transport a virus to one of our subscribers in many years.
So keep that in mind the next time one of your posts takes longer
than you think it should due to being help up for approval :-)

Next, if the entire message is less than 128k (or so, we tweak
this value every now and then), it goes through.  This means that
any pictures go right through to the list members as long as the
total message size is less than 128k.  When that happens, you see
the pictures right there in the message, and when you read the
on-line archives, you can click on the attachment links and see
the pictures on the web.

But if the message is too big, it is held up until someone from
the ECC deals with it.  Usually we deal with it by explaining
to the poster that the message is too big.  

If someone wants to post a big picture that would normally get rejected,
they can send it to files@ptg.org and Kent will make sure it gets into
the on-line archives so that a URL can be used to link to it instead
of attaching it to a post.

-andy