On Thu, 2004-11-25 at 19:54, Frank Ellermann wrote:
So the x should be something like a traditional POP3 mailbox,
where u(_at_)hop1 resp. u(_at_)hup2 can get his dead mail later. That
could work for Hannah's case, they probably offer POP3, and do
the forwarding only on demand.
Changing from accept-and-resend forwarding to store-and-pickup
forwarding (for lack of better descriptions) is one way that
"forwarders" of the future could provide their service. I described
(badly, I think) this in
http://archives.listbox.com/spf-discuss(_at_)v2(_dot_)listbox(_dot_)com/200411/1186.html
The fact that POP3 supports only a single mailbox makes it perfect for
this -- unlike IMAP, for example, there is no concept of "server-side
folders" and whatnot to make a POP3 store-and-pickup style forwarding
service anything other than that.
Yes, this means that forwarding is no longer (to quote ads for the
"Ronco Rotisserie Barbecue") "set it and forget it". And forwarding
will most likely cease to be a 'for-free' service (as it often is at
schools and companies who give people the option of continuing to use
their email address after leaving) because of the slightly increased
maintenance and storage requirements. Not creating a situation where
you (as a user who is using forwarding) can forget about how your mail
routing is setup is a good thing, IMO, which is, unfortunately, what we
have now (I recently had to deal with a user who's sister starting
getting email addressed to him because she acquired an account at a
place he _used_to_ have an account, and the same last name made the same
alias get set up. The whole time, some other account of his had been
forwarding to this account that he completely forgot he ever had).
Andy.