On Fri, 30 Apr 1999, Philip Guenther wrote:
John Conover <conover(_at_)inow(_dot_)com> writes:
[...] is it true that To: header syntax like:
John Conover <conover(_at_)inow(_dot_)com>
is depreciated, and:
conover(_at_)inow(_dot_)com (John Conover)
is correct?
Nope: the other way around. The prefered format is
phrase <address>
This is prefered over the "address (comment)" format as it is now
considered a Bad Idea for standards to specify that comments should
have any fixed interpretation.
I believe the proposed new standard for news articles still prefers the
"address (comment)" syntax and specifies that the comment is to be taken
as the "real name," so you're likely to keep seeing that form for quite
some while whenever news<->mail gateways get involved. MUAs like Netscape
that can/do simulateous e-mailing and news-posting of the same composition
are likely to continue generating "addres (comment)" as well, because the
news standards are stricter than the e-mail ones.