budd@arizona.UUCP (06/22/83)
Here is a problem I have had several times lately, and a proposed solution. Suppose out of the blue you decide to send a message to someone you know works at R, and you know R is on the net. You search around in Hortons index for a while, perhaps use the findpath program, and eventually somehow discover you can reach R by going through A!B!P!Q!R. NOW - to whom do you send it to at R? good bets are the persons first name, or their last, or their initials. You try all those. Next you try "root" (every site has a root). Perhaps you have a few other guesses (their college nickname, or somesuch). Phone bills mount. Your CC line becomes longer. Anyway, you see the problem. (How many people could have guessed Lady Arwins login? Where is the lady lately, anyway?) How about every site establishing an account (or alais, for those sites that support mail alaises) that is fixed from site to site - say "postmaster". That way, if you had no other contact at a site, you could send a message to A!B!P!Q!R!postmaster, with a request to respond with the correct login name, or with instructions to forward to the appropriate individual.
joe@cvl.UUCP (06/22/83)
The arpanet SMTP spec calls for every site to have just such a mailbox, known as "postmaster", for dealing with mailing-system questions.