Content-Type: text/shitpost

This was already old when I saw first saw it, and that was in the 1980s:

    Date:     7 Apr 1977 1712-EST
    From:     Bob Chansler at CMU-10A
    Reply-To: Lord High Executier@CMU-10A
    Subject:  Re: Close, but no cigar
    To:       BRIAN.REID at CMU-10A
    CC:       chansler@CMU-10A
    Sender:   BOB.CHANSLER at CMU-10A
    Message-ID: [CMU-10A]  7 Apr 1977 17:12:49 Bob Chansler
    In-Reply-To: Your message of April 6, 1977
    My-Seq-#: 39492094
    Yr-Seq-#: 4992488
    Class:    A
    Subclass: MCMXLVII
    Author:   fred
    Typist:   fred
    Terminal: TTY88
    FE-L#:    44
    Reason:   Did Godzilla need a reason?
    Valid:    Not before 12 Apr 1977 1321Z
    Suspend:  After 19 Apr 1977 0000Z
    Spelling-errors-this-message:  0
    Spelling-errors-to-date:  23
    Weather:  Light rain, fog.
    Forcast:  Clearing by morning
    Psych-evaluation-of-sender:  slightly unstable
    Security-level:  Public
    Security-sublevel:  0
    Authority-to-send:  general
    Authority-to-rcv:  general
    #-people-in-terminal-room:  12
    XGP:      UP-cutter not working
    Ht/Wt-sender:  76/205
    Machines: M&Ms available but almond machine is empty
    M&Ms-Last-Nickel:  17
    Remailed-To: John.Zsarnay at CMU-10A
    Remailed-From: Peter.Schwarz at CMU-10A
    Remailed-Date: Saturday, 22 September 1979 0155-EDT
    Origin:  C410PS20 at CMU-10A; 22 Sep 1979 0155-EDT
    Remailed-To: Mike.Accetta at CMUA
    Remailed-From: John.Zsarnay at CMU-10A (A650JZ04)
    Remailed-Date: 22 September 1979 1615-EDT
    Origin:  A650JZ04 at CMU-10A; 22 Sep 1979 1616-EDT
    Remailed-To: Fil.Alleva at CMU-10A
    Remailed-From: Mike Accetta <Mike.Accetta at CMU-10A> (A650MA33)
    Remailed-Date: Saturday, 22 September 1979 2004-EDT
    Via:     CMU-10A; 22 Sep 1979 2006-EDT
    Remailed-To: Ken.Wertz at CMU-10B
    Remailed-From: Fil.Alleva at CMU-10B (A650FA33)
    Remailed-Date: Monday, 24 September 1979 1023-EDT
    Via:     CMU-10B; 24 Sep 1979 1025-EDT
    Remailed-To: Don.Provan at CMU-10A
    Remailed-From: Krafty Ken Wertz <Ken.Wertz at CMU-10A>
    Remailed-Date: Monday, 24 September 1979 1029-EDT
    Origin:  C425KW0F at CMU-10A; 24 Sep 1979 1036-EDT
    Remailed-To: Carolyn.Councill at CMU-10A
    Remailed-From: don.provan at CMU-10A
    Remailed-Date: Monday, 24 September 1979 1054-EDT
    Origin:  C425DP0N at CMU-10A; 24 Sep 1979 1055-EDT
    Remailed-To: Eddie.Caplan @ CMUA
    Remailed-From: Carolyn.Councill at CMU-10A (C425CC33)
    Remailed-Date: Monday, 24 September 1979 1631-EDT
    Origin:  C425CC33 at CMU-10A; 24 Sep 1979 1632-EDT
    Remailed-To: lawrence.butcher at CMU-10A
    Remailed-From: eddie caplan <EC0F at CMU-10A>
    Remailed-Date: 24 September 1979 1634-EDT
    Origin:  C425EC0F at CMU-10A; 24 Sep 1979 1635-EDT
    Remailed-To: Mike Kazar at CMU-10A, Craig Everhart at CMU-10A
    Remailed-From: Lawrence Butcher at CMU-10A (X335LB50)
    Remailed-Date: Tuesday, 25 September 1979 1811-EDT
    Origin:  X335LB50 at CMU-10A; 25 Sep 1979 1812-EDT
    Remailed-To: sipb @ mc
    Remailed-From: Mike Kazar <Mike.Kazar at CMU-10A> (C410MK50)
    Remailed-Date: Wednesday, 26 September 1979 0009-EDT

    I do not understand your concern about the size of message headers.

That header is 73 lines long and when I saw it, it did seem hilariously and impossibly long. Also, I believe that it was a joke, manually constructed for humorous effect. I think.

But I just selected ten email messages I received this week, all from real people, none generated automatically. The headers varied from 112 to 168 lines with a mean of 139.4.

Here's an example.

    Return-Path: <SRS0=eRb6=NB=gmail.com=xxxxxx.xxxxxx@bounce2.pobox.com>
    Delivered-To: mjd-xxxxxxx-xxx@plover.com
    Received: (qmail 11384 invoked by uid 119); 21 Oct 2018 14:56:17 -0000
    Delivered-To: mjd-xxxxxxxxx@plover.com
    Received: (qmail 11336 invoked by uid 119); 21 Oct 2018 14:56:16 -0000
    Delivered-To: mjd@xxxx.plover.com
    X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.1 (2015-04-28) on plover.com
    X-Spam-Level: 
    X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,HTML_MESSAGE,
            RCVD_IN_DNSWL_BLOCKED autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.1
    Received: (qmail 11322 invoked from network); 21 Oct 2018 14:56:15 -0000
    Received: from pb-mx9.pobox.com (64.147.108.50)
      by plover.com with SMTP; 21 Oct 2018 14:56:15 -0000
    Received: from pb-mx9.nyi.icgroup.com (localhost.local [127.0.0.1])
            by pb-mx9.pobox.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id A4EA328A7C
            for <mjd@xxxx.plover.com>; Sun, 21 Oct 2018 10:56:15 -0400 (EDT)
    X-Pobox-Filter-Version: 3.1
    X-Pobox-Loop-ID: 7926cd081b2f99edbf8a3175811eeef92ea9e77b
    Delivered-To: mjd@plover.com
    X-Pobox-Delivery-ID: E285A2-5723E28A7A-1540133775-09857176!pb-mx9.pobox.com
    Received: from pb-mx9.pobox.com (localhost.local [127.0.0.1])
            by pb-mx9.pobox.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5723E28A7A
            for <mjd@plover.com>; Sun, 21 Oct 2018 10:56:15 -0400 (EDT)
    Received: from pb-mx9.pobox.com (localhost [127.0.0.1])
        by pb-mx9.pobox.com (Authentication Milter) with ESMTP
        id A5326D4B450;
        Sun, 21 Oct 2018 10:56:15 -0400
    ARC-Seal: i=1; a=rsa-sha256; cv=none; d=pobox.com; s=arcseal; t=
        1540133775; b=fr67/8t0TPrSeT8Riz+V3HXbsiglMQHr3uf/xxO0dpC/r85fum
        voxyqmm4F3lMo2O/24sonwd5Zr2OtgXoyVYzqmNoQjMCdsSbmR+Jgjd/hkl8sLDV
        VOZN6wlrxWo9WkQMk+CqlqO8sNKVLEHtZjzLcvieXJAx/f/UwO5JR1/Ii80VGijA
        uAN1HaDITm41GNUMUublfaQmRQQRaJjdYhB2ZAEODoykLS3WMgQjwGPKZae+Vug+
        9oQMLPNMJBRRVhE0rCLwcunatj0uFmE+mP6YRHyLCYqKhtl4sJdRlRkTcZtLhfLT
        Yo+BWzWNv/sS7hbRLIUcHg8aDTdL+inzltWQ==
    ARC-Message-Signature: i=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=
        pobox.com; h=mime-version:reply-to:from:date:message-id:subject
        :to:content-type; s=arcseal; t=1540133775; bh=vjL7FpH0ajRyY2oBrV
        ZKutYja2P6fTTwFoNmmdMx6k8=; b=tSDtGXYswcyua7qtkCnT+lHHIKGAtZUAiN
        cWoSCvlw4iTDDy1OXf1JePuS+mLiov28ac1ZC2POArwmZrZBU9gdiuB7dIibOGY1
        Rk0U7MeQGZ00acko51IGwzOmRUrlcFKflw9T3pP6wqOjKEo3/n/EQLwEdMrEvAuN
        qbRcZ85RxhRfT/EA8FFIqpkD1O5eUmBJgxtZd857+dYACvkEdJwyKdA2vwK6gxZ9
        P6tkXzMS8ZUxt+R98XjrP8mjUhBCVIvHl6Gck5sIWc+sA7RzlIH1xVz5/dXoBbxw
        vBweOhOgayAUZDHqSZFdfVasxKQ7I9H4hAwSs5i9wA47w6IRWjzA==
    ARC-Authentication-Results: i=1; pb-mx9.pobox.com; arc=none (no signatures found);
        dkim=none (no signatures found);
        dmarc=none policy.published-domain-policy=none
        policy.applied-disposition=none policy.evaluated-disposition=none
        (p=none,d=none,d.eval=none) policy.policy-from=p
        header.from=xxxxx.com;
        iprev=pass policy.iprev=209.85.210.53 (mail-ot1-f53.google.com);
        spf=pass smtp.mailfrom=xxxxxx.xxxxxx@gmail.com
        smtp.helo=mail-ot1-f53.google.com;
        x-aligned-from=fail;
        x-google-dkim=pass (2048-bit rsa key) header.d=1e100.net
        header.i=@1e100.net header.b=VnaTQExP;
        x-ptr=pass smtp.helo=mail-ot1-f53.google.com
        policy.ptr=mail-ot1-f53.google.com;
        x-return-mx=pass header.domain=xxxxx.com policy.is_org=yes
        (MX Record found);
        x-return-mx=pass smtp.domain=gmail.com policy.is_org=yes
        (MX Record found);
        x-tls=pass smtp.version=TLSv1.2 smtp.cipher=ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256
        smtp.bits=128/128;
        x-vs=clean score=0 state=0
    Authentication-Results: pb-mx9.pobox.com;
        arc=none (no signatures found);
        dkim=none (no signatures found);
        dmarc=none policy.published-domain-policy=none
          policy.applied-disposition=none policy.evaluated-disposition=none
          (p=none,d=none,d.eval=none) policy.policy-from=p
          header.from=xxxxx.com;
        iprev=pass policy.iprev=209.85.210.53 (mail-ot1-f53.google.com);
        spf=pass smtp.mailfrom=xxxxxx.xxxxxx@gmail.com
          smtp.helo=mail-ot1-f53.google.com;
        x-aligned-from=fail;
        x-google-dkim=pass (2048-bit rsa key) header.d=1e100.net
          header.i=@1e100.net header.b=VnaTQExP;
        x-ptr=pass smtp.helo=mail-ot1-f53.google.com
          policy.ptr=mail-ot1-f53.google.com;
        x-return-mx=pass header.domain=xxxxx.com policy.is_org=yes
          (MX Record found);
        x-return-mx=pass smtp.domain=gmail.com policy.is_org=yes
          (MX Record found);
        x-tls=pass smtp.version=TLSv1.2 smtp.cipher=ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256
          smtp.bits=128/128;
        x-vs=clean score=0 state=0
    X-ME-VSCause: gggruggvucftvghtrhhoucdtuddrgedtkedrgedtgddukecutefuodetggdotefrodftvf
        curfhrohhfihhlvgemucfhrghsthforghilhenuceurghilhhouhhtmecufedttdenucen
        ucfjughrpeggrhfhfffkuffvtgesrgdtreertddtjeenucfhrhhomhepffgrnhhivghluc
        ghrghgnhgvrhcuoegumhifihhtsegumhifihhtrdgtohhmqeenucfkphepvddtledrkeeh
        rddvuddtrdehfeenucfrrghrrghmpehinhgvthepvddtledrkeehrddvuddtrdehfedphh
        gvlhhopehmrghilhdqohhtuddqfhehfedrghhoohhglhgvrdgtohhmpdhmrghilhhfrhho
        mhepoegurghnihgvlhdrfigrghhnvghrsehgmhgrihhlrdgtohhmqecuuffkkgfgpeelud
        eileenucevlhhushhtvghrufhiiigvpedt
    X-ME-VSCategory: clean
    Received-SPF: pass
        (gmail.com ... _spf.google.com: Sender is authorized to use 'xxxxxx.xxxxxx@gmail.com' in 'mfrom' identity (mechanism 'include:_netblocks.google.com' matched))
        receiver=pb-mx9.pobox.com;
        identity=mailfrom;
        envelope-from="xxxxxx.xxxxxx@gmail.com";
        helo=mail-ot1-f53.google.com;
        client-ip=000.00.000.00
    Received: from mail-ot1-f53.google.com (mail-ot1-f53.google.com [209.85.210.53])
            (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 (128/128 bits))
            (No client certificate requested)
            by pb-mx9.pobox.com (Postfix) with ESMTPS
            for <mjd@plover.com>; Sun, 21 Oct 2018 10:56:14 -0400 (EDT)
    Received: by mail-ot1-f53.google.com with SMTP id x4so36181561otg.3
            for <mjd@plover.com>; Sun, 21 Oct 2018 07:56:14 -0700 (PDT)
    X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed;
            d=1e100.net; s=20161025;
            h=x-gm-message-state:mime-version:reply-to:from:date:message-id
             :subject:to;
            bh=vjL7FpH0ajRyY2oBrVZKutYja2P6fTTwFoNmmdMx6k8=;
            b=VnaTQExPDxLOm/fFxz+l5u9Aaug8kYhuO+oLNME0xyC/Vd5RJ7GFOSAFZi7CwpncOc
             Oz2uG3otRlYSkTAe/kDp57M7euVbe/t8forciGzPvnEoV00eML4k35/61iwXdh0G8VPx
             ufiARQIeNnnbIZhIG5KrT9dILpWqaOpP62Pr5V/luJopr6VyGoczWKU7ziLyUrTQ07N0
             4bEuvdJeVvMWe65SikHP+g8BzQ25v9ddFks0RiDNooQZ1BUs+Iu9ATaq7H7PW3gu8bao
             Z7yljpdgzwiy1nbf7jLYdAuq2QFwLqVZwOUvQhZEhmmYxQp0RC5VZ8OJYMKf9WIHvVKc
             xJxA==
    X-Gm-Message-State: ABuFfoie6qFjtYXQhDgeIlRztSLmtcIQ5Y85cWKJgvIsNW1b6EG6bKdt
            3Vq5OPHyDMKFLUdcxSkcNPCxkjcQ4ugtY7cnO4tujB2q
    X-Google-Smtp-Source: ACcGV61mj+9y3xiKc4ASxH62IMUi6iMW5iUjIDgYDwjbW3B4rcSn8ERHuJPAvRqh89Iv+9dOPLIfCUFvgeLCcOQJ4SU=
    X-Received: by 2002:a9d:7495:: with SMTP id t21mr13661735otk.93.1540133773940;
     Sun, 21 Oct 2018 07:56:13 -0700 (PDT)
    MIME-Version: 1.0
    Reply-To: xxxxxx@xxxxxx-xxxx.com
    From: Xxxxxx Xxxxxx <xxxxx@xxxxx.com>
    Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2018 10:56:02 -0400
    Message-ID: <CAF_c+Nx+N1eihPhKSiHMVQ_VES2GPSeCO3QR3a6q0=ts7_8wpg@mail.gmail.com>
    Subject: "xxx" Xxxxxxxxxxxx Xxxxx
    To: Mark Dominus <mjd@plover.com>
    Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="00000000000080a9b90578be56eb"
    X-Pobox-Client-Address: 209.85.210.53
    X-Pobox-Client-Name: mail-ot1-f53.google.com
    X-Pobox-Client-HELO: mail-ot1-f53.google.com
    X-Pobox-Original-Sender: xxxxxx.xxxxxx@gmail.com

    I do not understand your concern about the size of message headers.

Holy cow. What would they have made of this in 1977, I wonder?