On Mon, 23 Jun 1997, Philip Tait wrote:

>In article <33AEF608.22D9@phxase.allied.com>,
>	Philip.Tait@phxase.allied.com (Phil Tait) writes:
>> (someone wrote:)
>>> Argh!  I sent mail to postmaster@allied.com a bit ago asking them to fix 
>>> it, and that mail bounced.  Someone has a very screwed-up mail system.
>> 
>> I will contact the relevant person, and see that the address points
>> somewhere useful.
>
>I was just told that "postmaster@allied.com" was disabled due to spam 
>overload.  "whois allied.com" does work, however.

I would strongly suggest re-enabling the postmaster address.  From
RFC822 (<http://www.csl.sony.co.jp/cgi-bin/hyperrfc?rfc822.txt>):

>    6.3.  RESERVED ADDRESS
>
>         It often is necessary to send mail to a site, without know-
>    ing  any  of its valid addresses.  For example, there may be mail
>    system dysfunctions, or a user may wish to find  out  a  person's
>    correct address, at that site.
>
>         This standard specifies a single, reserved  mailbox  address
>    (local-part)  which  is  to  be valid at each site.  Mail sent to
>    that address is to be routed to  a  person  responsible  for  the
>    site's mail system or to a person with responsibility for general
>    site operation.  The name of the reserved local-part address is:
>
>                               Postmaster
>
>    so that "Postmaster@domain" is required to be valid.
>
>    Note:  This reserved local-part must be  matched  without  sensi-
>           tivity to alphabetic case, so that "POSTMASTER", "postmas-
>           ter", and even "poStmASteR" is to be accepted.

The postmaster address is also required in RFC 1123 "Requirements for
Internet Hosts -- Application and Support", which can be found at
<http://www.csl.sony.co.jp/cgi-bin/hyperrfc?rfc1123.txt>.

HAND,

-- 
mike.ledoux@unh.edu			CS, RCC, O-
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"Those who would alter reality must first escape it."