[rvkennedy]

I really feel that this is not what email is for. An email is an historic document, atomic, and linked to a specific time of sending. When you forward a mail, you're not sending that actual mail, you're creating a new mail that references the original. In other words:

web = procedural

email = functional

[arethuza]

Some email clients allow you to attach the original email as an attachment when you forward/reply rather than embedding the text - I guess in that case you are arguably including a copy of the original.

[rvkennedy]

Quite right, and interesting, because you're then sending a copy of the email as defined by MIME. What you're not doing is modifying the original - as soon as you do so, it becomes a different email.