It keeps coming back because people are mad.
The Linux kernel is in C. It is perfectly valid to add the following
to the mailer software:
if(c&0x80) c='X';
There would be _no_ loss of information because anything with
the 0x80 bit set is not legal ANSI C source code.
There is a huge problem with MIME. Remember the 3D mouse?
Somebody though the kernel had 3D mouse support because the
MIME crap corrupted a kernel patch.
I've seen MIME corruption actually get into the kernel source
code, then get removed a version or two later. I do not think
it is OK to corrupt the kernel source code!
The mailing list should _decode_ MIME.
BTW, the mailer will run faster if it can treat everyone the same.