On Fri, 12 Apr 1996 02:01:45 -0400, "Robert E. King" wrote:
>One of my subscribers receives mail via a BBS that cannot figure out
>what to do with mail that has "To: Multiple recipients of list..."
>The sysop has to read each message individually trying to figure out
>who it belongs to. Needless to say, we've got some upset folks here ...
 
Although you can use SET listname SHORT822 FOR userid@node I recommend that
you don't.  The BBS mail system doesn't conform to RFC822 and RFC1123 mail
standards and should NOT be active on the Internet unless it can be
configured so that it does conform.
 
Specifically, the mail system should use the MAIL TO header in the envelope
(it DOES contain the address for the specific recipient) rather than the
internal To: header to route mail.
 
If the system isn't using the MAIL TO header, you can bet that it also
isn't aware of the MAIL FROM header and the first time some subscriber
address goes bad it will send the undeliverable mail message to the
internal From address (that's not only wrong, it's an annoying waste of
bandwidth).
 
Hence the correct action is to INSIST that the host properly configure its
mail software or, regrettably, users won't be eligible for service from
lists.  If the sysop COMMITS to getting mail software properly configured,
I'd reset the header *temporarily* to continue service while the sysop
figures out and tests the necessary changes.
 
The basis for my position is that the Internet has long since grown so
large that the cumulative effect of tolerating nonconformance is
substantial (a user here, a host there, adds up when you consider thousands
of lists and hundreds of thousands of hosts and millions of users.  The
latest revisions to Internet mail standards are 7 plus years old; there's
no good reason why any mail software that's connected to the net shouldn't
conform to the RFCs (the problem nearly always is misconfiguration rather
than incapable software).
 
/s Murphy A. Sewall <[log in to unmask]> (860) 486-2489 voice
   Professor of Marketing                          (860) 456-7725 fax
   http://mktg.sba.uconn.edu/MKT/Faculty/Sewall.html