[plug] Microsoft introduces the AutoSubscribe.B feature to Outlook users

[James Devenish]

In message <3EE083A2.8030002 at postnewspapers.com.au>
on Fri, Jun 06, 2003 at 08:05:54PM +0800, Craig Ringer wrote:
> User: mails subscribe-list-name at listserver.net
> User: sets evil out-of-office autoreply and leaves for the weekend
> Mailserver: sends confirmation
> User: autoreplies, quoting confirmation
> Mailserver: begins sending list traffic
> User: begins autoreplying to list traffic

YHBT. The autoresponder is broken. The autoresponder should not reply
to many things, and top of the list--no pun intended--would be list and
bulk mail. Some institutional virus scanners or spam filters make the
same mistake, but I'm sure you knew that already!

> This is why, if you let your users have an autoreply feature at all, it 
> MUST not reply with the original subject or any part of it, nor 
> include/quote any of the original body text.
[...]
> My solution at work: no autoreplies.

(Not saying you can't have that policy if you want, but...) all
UNIX/Linux/BSD versions of the `vacation` programme seem to work
fine for me (all the ones I've used, that is).