Subject: request

From: Andras Racz <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 20 Feb 1997 18:39:41 +0100 (MET)

Dear pine-info: is there any means to verify that an e-mail really
arrived to where I meant?
                               Thank you in advance
                                Andras Racz  from ELTE University,
                                Budapest, Hungary

---

From: <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 20 Feb 1997 12:17:54 -0800

On 20 Feb 1997, Andras Racz wrote:

> Date: 20 Feb 1997 09:43:45 -0800
> From: Andras Racz <[email-masked]>
> Newsgroups: comp.mail.pine
> Subject: request

Dear Andras,

I've often wondered about this as many smaller mail applications do 
have a system of _Return Receipts_, but there is a rather important
consequence, and that is it generates more tramsmission traffic and of
course memory needs to be used to record and track each message where
a return receipt was requested.

However on systems for larger mail programs evidently this is perhaps
too much clutter as the thinking is that recipients of messages will
always indicate [respond to an RSVP] without being asked.

We know from experience to get ANY feedback as to receipt of your 
message depends completely on the individual you contacted. As a
sidenote to RSVP courtesy it was born in the day when hostesses
wanted to make sure how many guests were coming.  Return receipts were
used postally to make certain that your business letter got to its
destination.  All this when telegraph and radio were in infancy and
not too reliable.  <<Do you read me?  Come in Rangoon, come in!>>

So if you add a century to that and evaluate communication reliability
today be reassured by several orders of magnitude that your message
got through and silence from your recipient may be more probable.

- - - -

I'm writing this from sunny California, USA.  Your message did get
through, and if one part of a web [Web] feels tremors, then the
whole web is aware. 

Another clue is when your mail is not rejected by a mailing robot
which sends messages back to you nearly all the time for improper
addresses.  If you don't get those then you're okay.

- - - -

Hope your Hungarian spring comes soon . . .

hinotru