On Mon, 10 Feb 1997 10:23:36 +0000, "Max Desorgher <[log in to unmask]>"
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>I had a message from a frustrated user this morning, who found he
>couldn't post to my list anymore. He had heard nothing from
>compuserve (so he says) about the change.

I have been a Compuserve customer for over 10 years.  I registered for my
non-numeric userID in Oct 1995.  In Dec 1996 I was notified by Compuserve
that I could begin using it.  So i began testing it.  Within Compuserve I
could use either numeric or name ID.  From outside compuserve I could
also use either to send in, but outgoing msgs still had the numeric ID as
From:

Just this last week, Compuserve changed this so that outgoing msgs now
have a nameID.  As near as I can tell, they did not give public notice of
this to anyone.  I don't think this was a sinister, devious plot as one
user expressed, just bumbling ineptitude as they are madly scrambling to
revamp their network from proprietary software to an internet model.

>... (you create the new address by simply using their full
>name as follows: [log in to unmask])

NO, this is not correct.  You cannot just make up an address and expect
it to get there.  If the user previously registered a 'name' with
compuserve it will be that name, which may be quite different (even silly
like AOL names can be).  If the user did not previously register, then it
MAY be formed from their name, but will also include a middle initial (if
any) so again is unpredictable.  At any rate, no public announcement of
how this address will be formed has been made so the rules unknown.  You
cannot expect to make up your own rules in this!

I have this problem all the time with my AOL account with people who are
'absolutely  sure' that Bob Parker or Bill Parker or Bud Parker can only
have the email id of [log in to unmask]  (It usually turns out Bob forgot to
tell his friends that his userID is [log in to unmask], etc)

A better solution for list owners is to post a public message on their
list (or send a private msg direct to only Compuserve addresses) asking
the user to send a private email reply either direct to you, or to the
universal List Owner address:  listname-REQUEST@your_host_domain

You can then see the correct email From: address for that user.


--
 ________________________________________________________________________
 Ben Parker ............ (Oak Park IL) .......... [log in to unmask]