RFC 2142 (rfc2142) - Page 1 of 6
Mailbox Names for Common Services, Roles and Functions
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
Network Working Group D. Crocker
Request for Comments: 2142 Internet Mail Consortium
Category: Standards Track May 1997
MAILBOX NAMES FOR
COMMON SERVICES, ROLES AND FUNCTIONS
Status of this Memo
This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
ABSTRACT
This specification enumerates and describes Internet mail addresses
(mailbox name @ host reference) to be used when contacting personnel
at an organization. Mailbox names are provided for both operations
and business functions. Additional mailbox names and aliases are not
prohibited, but organizations which support email exchanges with the
Internet are encouraged to support AT LEAST each mailbox name for
which the associated function exists within the organization.
1. RATIONALE AND SCOPE
Various Internet documents have specified mailbox names to be used
when reaching the operators of the new service; for example, [RFC 822
6.3, C.6] requires the presence of a mailbox name
on all hosts that have an SMTP server. Other protocols have defacto
standards for well known mailbox names, such as for
NNTP (see [RFC 977]), and for HTTP (see [HTTP]).
Defacto standards also exist for well known mailbox names which have
nothing to do with a particular protocol, e.g., and
.
The purpose of this memo is to aggregate and specify the basic set of
mailbox names which organizations need to support. Most
organizations do not need to support the full set of mailbox names
defined here, since not every organization will implement the all of
the associated services. However, if a given service is offerred,
then the associated mailbox name(es) must be supported, resulting in
delivery to a recipient appropriate for the referenced service or
role.
Crocker Standards Track