From: "David Herron" <david(_at_)twg(_dot_)com>
There is already a mechanism for encoding funny characters into a header
[..] However it is not quite suitable for use in the *address* itself.
[...] All of which was covered in discussion some weeks ago. But it sounded
as if you weren't aware of all this. If I am mistaken, please forgive me.
I was indeed aware of it, and I didn't express myself clearly this morning,
sorry.
What I was suggesting was that the mail address be retained unchanged - and
therefore still a 7-bit string, with no added semantics to punctuation.
This alone amounts to doing nothing at all.
In addition, I was suggesting an _extra_ header that contained an optional
encoding of one's name.
Hence, instead of
From: lee(_at_)sq(_dot_)com (Liam R. E. Quin)
one might have
From: lee(_at_)sq(_dot_)com
Real-Name: Liam R. E. Quin
where the Real-Name can use an ncoding such as the one you mention.
The mta is unaffected apart from needing to pass an extra header, although I
accept that that's not necessarily trivial.
In this way, a Mime user need never see the actual "low-level" address, and
could simply deal with the person's name -- perhaps looking at the hostname
as well in order to disambiguate multiple Jeff Smiths [sorry, jeff :-)]
A user of an older or non-mime UI would continue to see the 7-bit address
as before.
Lee
--
Liam Quin, Development & Contracts, SoftQuad Inc, +1 416 239 4801
lee(_at_)sq(_dot_)com
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