RFC 2142 (rfc2142) - Page 1 of 6

Mailbox Names for Common Services, Roles and Functions

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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
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