Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!njin!princeton!twg.com!david From: david@twg.com (David S. Herron) Newsgroups: comp.mail.misc Subject: Re: AT&T replies Keywords: cbnews Message-ID: <7878@gollum.twg.com> Date: 2 Sep 90 22:52:44 GMT References: <1990Aug19.205508.16479@mthvax.cs.miami.edu> <1255@mtunq.ATT.COM> <7801@gollum.twg.com> <1990Aug30.183437.11916@cbnewsu.att.com> Reply-To: david@twg.com (David S. Herron) Distribution: na Organization: The Wollongong Group, Palo Alto, CA Lines: 53 In article <1990Aug30.183437.11916@cbnewsu.att.com> mark@cbnewsu.att.com (Mark Horton) writes: >In article <7801@gollum.twg.com>, david@twg.com (David S. Herron) writes: >> Listen.. by putting out e-mail headers with addresses like that >> you are claiming to be able to handle mail addressed like so. >> ergo-cum-quid cbnews.att.com is *BROKEN* [...] >We have determined that the error rate recently went beyond our >acceptable standards of quality and identified the cause. We have a >fix designed and expect to install the fix next week after appropriate >testing. Ok. Sorry. I overreacted. I'd seen a claim from somebody that a particular address didn't work. I've also seen signatures from cbnewsx.att.com users directing followups to some other host. And I've also had at least one problem mailing to a cbnewsx.att.com address. All of which led me to believe that things were "*BROKEN*". >> If the header were to read "From: alex.g.bell@att.com" then >> it would work. > >Excellent idea, but it runs into trouble for all the John Smith's >or David Jones in a 200,000 person company. We're looking into >solutions for this, but we aren't there yet. er.. yeah.. And you run into the same trouble with the "attmail" service you're already running. That there's only one pile of names and it's rather impossible to avoid collisions in a large enough pile of names. Leading to Harris's Lament: All the good ones are taken. Eh? :-) I see that problem as being very similar to host naming problems that we've seen on ARPAnet, UUCP and BITNET. Each one ran into problems when the host base reached the 3-5,000 range. [Long question about X.500 queries over network in order to fill out e-mail headers and the like] >Simple. We will deliver mail, and even help fill out the form for >a specific user. What we don't do is let you browse the directory >to accumulate a list of employees. > > Mark I read this as saying that particular non-AT&T people will have to be authorized in some way or another for particular queries and that you won't answer to open ended queries? -- <- David Herron, an MMDF & WIN/MHS guy, <- Formerly: David Herron -- NonResident E-Mail Hack <- <- Sign me up for one "I survived Jaka's Story" T-shirt!