[Hidden-tech] strange email problem, Mac related

[Robert Heller]

At Wed, 4 Apr 2007 11:36:36 -0400 Frieda Reichsman <friedar at nsm.umass.edu> wrote:

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> On Apr 4, 2007, at Apr 4, 9:55 AM, Christopher Miles wrote:
> > The only other method for encoding a space is with a slash:
> >   chris\ miles
> 
> Will check this possibility out.
> 
> > While there are rules about having spaces in an e-mail address,  
> > there are no such rules about spaces in a user's name. This happens  
> > a lot in Windows environments where the user name is often the  
> > persons first and last name.
> 
> I take it you are drawing a distinction between the user's name and  
> the username, because the latter is of course part of the email address.

*Not Necessiarly!*  There is no partitular requirement that the username
be part of the email address.  *Traditionally* in a UNIX environment
this was the case: E-Mail address was username at hostname (where hostname
is now known as the domain name).  It is quite possible for an incoming
mail server do almost *anything* when it delivers E-Mail to an inbox. 
So it is possible to have a username (not on a UNIX box generally) with
a space in it and an email address *without* a space (as required by
RFC822).  The 'local' part of the E-Mail address won't be the person's
username, most likely some variation with the space replaced with some
legal character (one of '.', '-', or '_', probably). Lots of fun and
games here, but doable.  Rather than continue to 'fumble' arround, you
really need to give your client's ISP a call and find out just what is
really going on.

> 
> > If the dot in the space works on his Windows machine then that  
> > should work on his Macintosh as well. My suspicion is that his  
> > outgoing server isn't setup correctly and that is where the problem  
> > truly lies. OIT at UMASS, for instance, requires SSL for the  
> > outgoing server if you are off campus. Other organizations may have  
> > similar quirks
> >
> >   http://www.oit.umass.edu/umail/software/configumail/ 
> > mac_applemail.html
> > -- Miles
> 
> OK, thanks, Miles. And thanks to all who have replied on this issue.  
> I am always impressed with the lengths people will go to for clarity  
> and completeness of response on this list, explaining nuances etc. It  
> is very helpful.
> 
> I hope to work more on this over the weekend. If I can confirm with  
> the ISP what the real email name is (clearly it is not the name with  
> the space in it!) and/or confirm that the outgoing server is not set  
> up correctly, or confirm anything interesting at all  :^)   I'll post.
> 
> Frieda
> 
> ///////////////////////////////////////////
> 
> Frieda Reichsman
> Molecules in Motion
> Interactive Molecular Structures
> http://www.moleculesinmotion.com
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Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933
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