On Thu, 20 Jul 1995, Jeff Thompson wrote:
our net persona is effectively our email address
This is really an Internet-elitist attitude. Because you got in early
on the game or can afford your own node, you can have an email address
which is your persona, for example hallam(_at_)w3(_dot_)org for Phill
Hallam-Baker.
But try to sign on to netcom.com or msn.com and be username hallam.
My friends go through several iterations before they get something
unique and it always ends up resembling their own name as little as
their telephone number does.
If a particular part of the name space is getting a bit crowded, there
are plenty of other places to go. With MXing and mail forwarding,
there is no excuse for name contortions. You don't need to "own a
node" to get a domain name that's mail routable.
If you are a believer in X.500, you seem to be betraying your
pinciples, judging from the sig below. Why didn't you register as
Jeff_Thompson(_at_)netcom(_dot_)com, or better yet
/C=US/.../...Jefferson_MiddleName_Thompson/@netcom.com or whatever
other sort of bloated krud you think makes a nifty guaranteed globally
unique "name" for yourself? Certainly netcom should be able to alias
any of these to what your account name actually is.
The days of Internet "handles" are over. (Quotable quote)
To the extent that the statement immediately above has any content, it
is false.
The only way people will be able to find each other on the net is to
remember their real names and use a query facility like User Friendly
Names, and distinguished names are suitable for carrying people's real
identifying information.
As they say, when two people exchange business cards, if they both
have Internet addresses, they can exchange mail. If one has an
Internet address and the other has an X.400 address, the person with
the X.400 addrss has to send email first, then the other can probably
reply. If they both have X.400 addresses, they communicate by
telephone.
I don't have any objections to various sorts of directories and don't
see why their content should be limited to what's real, whatever that
means. Certainly in the normally legal sense I am free to operate
under as many different names a I want, provided I am not defrauding
anyone thereby.
- Jeff
jefft(_at_)netcom(_dot_)com (NOT to be confused with
jeff_t(_at_)netcom(_dot_)com(_dot_)
jefft(_at_)ix(_dot_)netcom(_dot_)com, jeff(_at_)netcom(_dot_)com,
geofft(_at_)netcom(_dot_)com,
jt(_at_)netcom(_dot_)com, jthompson(_at_)netcom(_dot_)com,
j_thompson(_at_)netcom(_dot_)com, etc...)
Donald
=====================================================================
Donald E. Eastlake 3rd +1 508-287-4877(tel) dee(_at_)cybercash(_dot_)com
318 Acton Street +1 508-371-7148(fax)
dee(_at_)world(_dot_)std(_dot_)com
Carlisle, MA 01741 USA +1 703-620-4200(main office, Reston, VA)