email edit

[Jay R. Ashworth]

On Wed, Nov 01, 2006 at 03:53:05PM -0500, Kenneth Brody wrote:
> Quoting Jay R. Ashworth (Wed, 1 Nov 2006 15:21:59 -0500):
> > On Wed, Nov 01, 2006 at 03:07:00PM -0500, Kenneth Brody wrote:
> > > > On Wed, Nov 01, 2006 at 12:50:31PM -0500, Brian K. White wrote:
> > > [...]
> > > > > I wouldn't be surprised if you can have more than one @
> > > >
> > > > You can't.
> > >
> > > Then why does <"foo at bar"@hvcomputer.com> work?
> >
> > Well, RFC 2822 is pretty opaque in its choice of syntax, but that does
> > actually appear to be legal.
> >
> > The same Berns steak offer applies, if you can find a production
> > mailbox with an at-sign in it's name -- that is, one that wasn't
> > created to win a steak dinner.  :-)
> 
> Well, I've used it (rarely) along with the "+" syntax, to provide
> unique (ie: traceable back to its source, should it receive spam)
> addresses.  (Though I usually use "_" in such cases, simply for
> ease of use.)

"+" is the current common convention for that, yes.  Since using an "@"
as part of the LHS *breaks* if you fail to quote it, I wouldn't expect
it to work as well.

> [...]
> > > Well, there's "likely to be found in the real world", and then there's
> > > "RFC compliant".
> >
> > Yes, there is.  I don't feel the need to be 100.0% RFC 2822 compliant
> > in the environment in question; we're not trying to rewrite sendmail in
> > filePro.
> 
> So, would you rather reject the once-in-a-blue-moon "valid" address
> as "invalid", or would you rather allow the occasional "malformed"
> address as "valid", which will be picked up in the opt-in confirmation
> code?

If it's really once in a blue moon, hell yeah.  How many false
negatives justify any false positives?

> Both choices are equally valid, depending on your needs.

True, and you should know...

> [...]
> > > Are we looking to "validate" the address, or simply verify that it is
> > > properly formed?
> >
> > *I* was only concerned with form, not substance.  :-)
> 
> Ditto.

I think Keith expanded the field of play unilaterally...

Cheers,
-- jr 'as he so often does :-)' a
-- 
Jay R. Ashworth                                                jra at baylink.com
Designer                          Baylink                             RFC 2100
Ashworth & Associates        The Things I Think                        '87 e24
St Petersburg FL USA      http://baylink.pitas.com             +1 727 647 1274

	"That's women for you; you divorce them, and 10 years later,
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