Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site down.FUN
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!princeton!down!honey
From: honey@down.FUN (Peter Honeyman)
Newsgroups: net.mail.headers
Subject: Re: Why "From cbosgd!cbosgd.ATT.UUCP!chris" isn't stupid
Message-ID: <515@down.FUN>
Date: Mon, 3-Jun-85 11:27:10 EDT
Article-I.D.: down.515
Posted: Mon Jun  3 11:27:10 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 4-Jun-85 23:55:47 EDT
References: <1214@cbosgd.UUCP>
Organization: Princeton University, EECS
Lines: 35

cbosgd!cbosgd.ATT.UUCP!chris is ugly, stupid, and wrong.

it's ugly.  res ipso loquitor.

it's stupid.  if you want to use a domain address, put it in the
"From:" line, where arpa-style headers belong.  the "From " line
contains the uucp address of the sender; changing it disrupts
uucp mail service.  furthermore, it is patently stupid to equate
a domain with a transport medium.  get with the program, brutha.

it's wrong.  neither ATT nor UUCP is a domain.  i suspect ATT
will someday be a domain, subordinate to COM, not UUCP.  UUCP
is not a domain, and it never will be.  ask your NIC.

the whole point of dotted addresses in uucp style "From " lines
is to obviate mixed associativity in routing operators, a
problem that arises when mail crosses a gateway between less-
than-compatible mail universes, e.g., uucp <--> arpa.

if a host has trouble with x!y!z!cbosgd!chris, how does
x!y!z!cbosgd!cbosgd.ATT.UUCP!chris help?  why are you trashing
perfectly valid, unambiguous addresses?  and why are you going
to such great effort to help cbosgd find itself?  is it lost?

cbosgd!cbosgd.ATT.UUCP!chris does more than simply disguise
chris@cbosgd.ATT.UUCP:  it disguises the uucp path traversed by
the message.

seismo!ucbcad.BERKELEY.ARPA!bob is ugly, and i would argue that
it's stupid (use seismo!ucbcad!bob -- it's simple, consistent,
and it works), and it will be wrong very soon (july 15?  sure
...), but at least it attempts to address a substantive issue,
not one made of whole cloth.

	pep/honey