[drats_users] Email Proposal

[Dan Smith]

> I think this is the real issue.  We need a way of typing all these 
> different messaging networks together.  It was done in the online 
> world decades ago, with the Internet, Fidonet, packet BBSs, 
> Compuserve and others all able to message each other.  I ran a Fido 
> <--> Internet/Usenet gateway myself for a number of years in the 
> early-mid 90s.  I was even able to use third party software to extend 
> its capabilities to gate to/from Fido technology networks, other than 
> the one it was configured to operate in.

I understand the goal, but I get worried because often times tying two
systems together make them as weak (or weaker) than the least-reliable
of the two.

If it's going to happen, however, I think that the common interface has
to be RFC822 (i.e. an Internet email).

WinLink allows you to check your mail over the Internet with no password
(well, a known password).  If I implement a function that says "check
server X with username Y password Z for mail and send anything to me",
then it would be easy to either (a) check your winlink mail without
divulging anything or (b) check a throwaway account.

Now, WinLink's use of non-standard protocols on otherwise standard
networks means that D-RATS needs to have special knowledge of how to
fetch those mails (aiee), but it would be doable.

-- 
Dan Smith
dsmith#danplanet.com, s/#/@/
www.danplanet.com
KK7DS