Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!ig!mcb From: mcb@presto.IG.COM (Michael C. Berch) Newsgroups: news.newusers.questions Subject: Re: Question about my news "Reply-To" path. Message-ID: Date: 11 Jan 90 21:30:41 GMT References: <50351@bu.edu.bu.edu> Distribution: usa Organization: IntelliGenetics, Inc., Mountain View, Calif. USA Lines: 40 In referenced article, clement%buengf.bu.edu@bu-cs.bu.edu (Clement Lee) writes: > I have installed NNTP's remote readnews program on my machine a week > ago, and upon "following-up" news, I found my "Reply-To" path to be > the following when the editor was once invoked: > > clement@buengf.UUCP > > And I have to change it to "clement%buengf.bu.edu@bu-cs.bu.edu" > everytime, as my friend advised me. > > My question is: Will replying mail be able to reach me if I use:- > > 1. clement@buengf.UUCP Possibly, if buengf is is in the UUCP maps. But this is not an optimal address. > 2. clement%buengf.bu.edu@bu-cs.bu.edu > 3. clement@buengf.bu.edu@bu-cs.bu.edu The specification only permits one "@" per address, and #3 is technically illegal, but a number of mailers will convert it to #2, which is deliverable. BUT, the correct answer is that your From: and Reply-To: headers should have the address clement@buengf.bu.edu since the BU nameservers have the proper (MX) record for buengf. Sites whose mailers use the Domain Name System (or send off-site mail to a smart relay that does) will be able to mail to that address. The MX record for buengf.bu.edu directs mail to the host bu.edu, which can be reached directly. So you don't have to (and shouldn't) use forms 1, 2, or 3 above, but should use your real FQDN (fully-qualified domain name). -- Michael C. Berch mcb@presto.ig.com / uunet!presto.ig.com!mcb / ames!bionet!mcb