Aunc.1651 net.unix-wizards utzoo!decvax!duke!unc!smb Thu Jan 7 09:49:27 1982 U.S. Post Office Electronic Mail a) The Post Awful is *not* interested in every home micro dialing in to their service. The requirements are fairly strict -- things like a minimum of 25 letters a month through *each* of their ECOM centers, and the need to set up an open account with them. I have a vague recollection that they were even requiring leased lines, rather than permitting dial-up service. And the speeds seemed rather low, though I don't remember any exact details. b) Resale of this service *is* permitted, as I recall -- we'll probably have to wait till Compuserve or one of the packet nets provides an interface. c) RFC733 already has a syntax for postal addresses, though I agree that it's more an escape from the standard addresses than something that could be parsed by machine. My suggestion is something like "addr".zip@USPS A zipcode makes a very nice "host" address, especially the 9-digit variety. (To be sure, that takes about 30 bits -- guess it wouldn't work with TCP/IP....) I have no preference about what to use for a newline, though \n or \\ seem nice. d) The standards *aren't* going to be set by us -- has anyone actually read the Post Awful's documentation? ----------------------------------------------------------------- gopher://quux.org/ conversion by John Goerzen of http://communication.ucsd.edu/A-News/ This Usenet Oldnews Archive article may be copied and distributed freely, provided: 1. There is no money collected for the text(s) of the articles. 2. The following notice remains appended to each copy: The Usenet Oldnews Archive: Compilation Copyright (C) 1981, 1996 Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.