Hey Carol!   
      
    CS> Neither, that was what there was then!   
      
   Probably just as well.  I did find some documentation and it claimed there is   
   (was?) no ^A prefix on AREA which matches what I see today.  I have an old pkt   
   mark sent me way back when for backwards compatibility testing purposes and   
   near as I can tell there are no ^A prefixes on any of the +180 messages in   
   that raw pkt.   
      
   Using the subject's null character terminator I get this;   
      
   -={ grep -Pao "\x00AREA" ./testing/E6614010.PKT | wc -l }=-   
   186   
      
   whereas a prefixed ^A shows;   
      
   -={ grep -Pao "\x01AREA" ./testing/E6614010.PKT | wc -l }=-   
   0   
      
   The first message in that raw pkt gives the FTN datetime stamp of "26 May 94    
   14:39:15" which is the same year as the latest version of CONFMAIL that I can   
   find.  I found nothing older than that.  I am guessing there is an archive of   
   a prior version somewhere.   
      
   Life is good,   
   Maurice   
      
   ... Don't cry for me I have vi.   
   --- GNU bash, version 4.4.19(1)-release (x86_64-silvermont-linux-gnu)   
    * Origin: Little Mikey's Brain - Ladysmith BC, Canada (1:153/7001)