Jon Postel -- 4 August 1987 -- TCP/IP ------------------------------------- the namedroppers list policy NAMEDROPPERS POLICY Scope: This NAMEDROPPERS mailing list is to be used for discussion of the concepts, principles, design, and implementation of the domain style names. The main focus of this group is the review of documents describing domain style name system (currently RFCs 882, 883, 973, 974) and discussion of the implementation of the system. The scope is limited to the technical aspects of the system. It does not include discussion of the actual names selected, or the semantics of those names. There are other forums for those discussions (for example, HEADER-PEOPLE, and ARPA-MHS). Policy: While one of the advantages of computer mail and mailing lists mechanisms is fast response, in this list we prefer to go a little slow to ensure thoughtful discussion. In general, one should let some time go by (a day) between first reading a message and composing a response. Even during periods of intense activity on this list one should not send more than one message per day. Typically this would allow one to discuss several other contributions in one message. * Wait a day between reading and sending. * Send at most one message per day. On the other hand, this is a list for participants in a discussion, not observers. Everyone on the list is expected to contribute from time to time. To get on or off NAMEDROPPERS send your request to NAMEDROPPERS-REQUEST@SRI-NIC.ARPA. Related mailing lists: HEADER-PEOPLE This group is for the discussion of issues in the design and implementation of the Internet community Text mail system (based on RFCs 821 and 822). Comments are welcome from any community that uses these conventions. This may include the interaction of the domain style names with the operation of this mail system. To get on or off HEADER-PEOPLE send your request to HEADER-PEOPLE-REQUEST@MIT-MC.ARPA. ARPA-MHS This group is explicitly focused on the development of means for interoperation and interconnection of the Internety community Text mail system and the international standards community X.400/MHS mail systems. This includes developing a mapping between the naming procedures used in these two systems. To get on or off ARPA-MHS send your request to ARPA-MHS-REQUEST@BRL.ARPA. MMM-PEOPLE This group is exploring the issues in multimedia computer mail (i.e., mail that includes text, bitmap, voice, graphics, and other special data types). This is based on work that has gone on for several years under both DARPA and NAVY sponsorship. There is consideration in this group of the use of X.400/MHS as a basis for further work on multimedia mail. To get on or off MMM-PEOPLE send your request to MMM-PEOPLE-REQUEST@C.ISI.EDU. Multiple Addresses: Nearly everyone in NAMEDROPPERS is also on HEADER-PEOPLE. There is no need to send a message to both NAMEDROPPERS and any other list. People are pretty careful about which lists they are and are not on. It is really best to send your message to exactly one list. If it was the wrong one, someone will let you know. Sending a message to more than one list will surely waste a significant amount of both computer and people time and resources. In fact, when sending to NAMEDROPPERS the only address needed is NAMEDROPPERS@SRI-NIC.ARPA. If you are responding to a particular comment by someone he or she will get the message without being explicitly addressed, and you will get a copy back too. History: All of the previous discussion of the NAMEDROPPERS can be found in the files NAMEDROPPERS.YYYY on SRI-NIC.ARPA, where YYYY is the year. There are currently files for 1983, 1984, and 1985. NAMEDROPPERS.MAIL contains the most current NAMEDROPPERS dialog. These files can be accessed via anonymous FTP. New member of NAMEDROPPERS may which to copy and read these archives before joining the discussion.