GNKSA Evaluation Form 2.04 Product Name : Hogwasher Product Version : 1.0b5 Tested on platform : Mac OS 8.1 Available for platforms: Mac OS Evaluation date : 3/5/98 Evaluated by : J. B. Moreno Conclusion ========== Hogwasher 1.0b5 fails to satisfy some basic GNKSA requirement(s), hence does NOT qualify for the Good Net-Keeping Seal of Approval. Summary ======= Pass Fail Total Pass/Fail% MUSTs 38 1 39 97%/3% SHOULDs 25 2 27 93%/7% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% 97%M %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% 93%S [GNKSA Score-O-Meter] Details ======= Regarding the strict GNKSA requirements (MUSTs), Hogwasher 1.0b5 FAILS on the following points: 8a Neglects the Reply-To directions Hogwasher 1.0b5 violates `soft' GNKSA requirements (SHOULDs) in the following way: 14a May cause posting mangled articles 14d Does not support rewrapping quoted text correctly Hogwasher 1.0b5 offers the following nice net-keeping features unmentioned by the GNKSA: The method of choosing followups is very nice, and as a side benefit of that it's only possible to set followups to a newsgroup that the message is sent to. Additional Comments: 13ab - It only allows canceling/superseding articles sent from within Hogwasher - you have to issue the command from the Sent Articles archive. 14a - Text is wrapped at the edge of the window when viewing, and the user is given the choice of how to wrap upon posting (80 chars, wrapped, as is), but doesn't get a chance to view it before it is posted. 14d - It nicely wraps text upon creating replies (attempting to keep the previous quote strings), but doesn't have a separate command for rewrapping text. The filtering is fairly good, although I'd like to be able to apply the same filter to various groups, and would prefer to not have to create a filter for downloading articles instead of just headers. The program allows you to combine newsgroups into a single virtual group, which can be useful when reading several closely related groups. It allows inline viewing of jpgs from the binary newsgroups. It can be used as either an offline or online newsreader. A copy of this review has been sent to the author(s). Checklist ========= (M)UST / (S)HOULD 1) Displays all essential header information Software clearly displays: [Y] a) Article's author (From) M [Y] b) Article's Subject M [Y] c) List of groups posted to (Newsgroups) M [Y] d) Where (and how) to direct followups (Followup-To) M [Y] e) Where to reply to if not the From-address (Reply-To) M [Y] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M 2) Provides clear, separate commands for new posting, followup, and e-mail reply [Y] a) for posting a new article M [Y] b) for posting a followup article M [Y] c) for replying by e-mail M [Y] d) Uses standard terminology S [Y] e) Avoids ambiguous terminology S [Y] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M 3) Provides cross-posting functionality [Y] a) Allows specifying multiple groups M [Y] b) Warns about, or prevents, posting to large numbers of groups S [Y] c) Strongly encourages setting Followup-To: on large crossposts S (`Y' if large crosspostings are disallowed) [Y] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M 4) Allows users to change essential headers [Y] a) Allows editing Subject at all times during composition M [Y] b) Allows specifying new Subject of at least 70 characters M [Y] c) Allows setting "Followup-To: poster" M [Y] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M 5) Ensures followups and e-mail replies contain a correct Subject [Y] a) Prepends "Re: " if (and only if) not already present M [Y] b) Preserves entire original Subject (modulo minor repairs) M [Y] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M 6) Directs followups to the correct newsgroups [Y] a) Initiates e-mail reply rather than a followup posting on "Followup-To: poster", clearly informing the user M [Y] b) Posts to groups in Followup-To if present M [Y] c) Posts to groups in Newsgroups otherwise M [Y] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M 7) Make sure followups contain valid References [Y] a) Creates References header with Message-ID of original article as the last element M [Y] b) Includes last three References from original M [Y] c) Ensures References will fit in 998 characters M [Y] d) Keep as many References from original as fit S [Y] e) Does not propagate broken Message-IDs in original References S [Y] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M 8) Direct e-mail replies to the correct address [N] a) Uses Reply-To if present M [Y] b) Uses From address otherwise M [N] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M 9) Allow the user to change her mind about whether to post or mail (or do both) and behave if doing both [Y] a) Allows users to change their mind and mail rather than post after having initiated a followup message S [Y] b) Allows users to change their mind and post rather than mail after having initiated a reply message S [Y] c) Does not offer both posting and mailing as default behaviour M [Y] d) Inserts a notification that the message was posted as well as mailed in the e-mail copy when both posting and mailing a followup article S [Y] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M 10) Provide adequate quotation and attribution facilities [Y] a) Allows including quoted original M [Y] b) Clearly distinguishes quoted material M [Y] c) Prefixes quoted material with `>'/`> ' S [Y] d) Omits correctly delimited signatures from quoted material S [Y] e) Provides a means of indicating which part(s) to followup to S [Y] f) Attribution line containing original author precedes quotes M [Y] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M 11) Provide a user-specified "Subject: " header [Y] a) Requires non-empty, user-specified Subject for new articles M [Y] b) Refuses posting articles without, or with an empty, Subject M [Y] c) Does not provide default Subject if user did not set one M [Y] d) Allows changing the Subject at any time while editing M [Y] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M 12) Provide a valid "From: " header [Y] a) Sets "From: " header to syntactically valid e-mail address M [Y] b) Refuses posting articles without a syntactically valid "From: " header M [Y] c) Uses correct e-mail addresses (valid and belonging to the user) only, as far as it can possibly know S [Y] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M 13) Allow users to both cancel and supersede their own articles (and _no_ others!) [Y] a) Allows cancelling articles S [Y] b) Allows superseding articles S [Y] c) As far as possible, does not allow cancelling or superseding other peoples' articles M [Y] d) Uses standard terminology S [Y] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M 14) Try to respect the 80-character line-length convention [N] a) Articles are posted as edited, with linebreaking intact S [Y] b) Warns about lines over 80 characters S [Y] c) Does not refuse to post articles containing long lines S [N] d) Allows rewrapping quoted text S [Y] e) Enforces formatting requirements on article after external editing (`Y' if there is no support for external editors) S [Y] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M 15) Separate signatures correctly, and don't use excessive ones [Y] a) Uses (and enforces) standard signature delimiter S [Y] b) Warns against or refuses to use excessive signatures S [Y] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M 16) Try to prevent obvious user errors [Y] a) Warns when attempting to post empty articles M [Y] b) Refuses posting empty articles S [Y] c) Warns when post articles containing quoted material only M [Y] d) Refuses posting quoted-text-only articles S [Y] e) Warns against posting multiple copies (`Y' if impossible) M [Y] f) Prevents multiple posting entirely S [Y] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M 17) Post human-readable articles unless ordered otherwise [Y] Does not (and can not) encode or encrypt articles unless on explicit user demand M [Y] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M 18) Provide self-protection [Y] Allows filtering out annoying articles (killing) S [Y] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M 19) Be kind to servers, leave room for others [Y] a) Does not unnecessarily open multiple connections M [Y] b) Does not generate excessive server load otherwise M [Y] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M