Date   : Sun, 08 Nov 2009 18:39:18 +0100
From   : rick@... (Rick Murray)
Subject: Who the message is from...

Jonathan Graham Harston wrote:

> only a suggestion, not a standard, and I won't put spaces after the
> colons as it's only an RFC, not a standard, and I'll not have a
> blank line between the header and the body, 'cos it's only an RFC,
> not a standard.

You want me to be REALLY pedantic?

Okay - here goes.

The so-called newer "standard" - RFC2822
The old standard - RFC822

Look at http://www.apps.ietf.org/rfc/stdlist.html and you will see:

STD 11 (RFC0822) STANDARD FOR THE FORMAT OF ARPA INTERNET TEXT MESSAGES
     D. Crocker, August 1982. STANDARD (Obsoletes RFC0733) (Obsoleted by 
RFC2822) (Updated by RFC1123 RFC2156 RFC1327 RFC1138 RFC1148), txt=103K

While it mentions that RFC822 has been obsoleted by RFC2822; 822 is the 
only one of the two to have an actual STD prefix at this time, thus it 
is the only one of the two listed as an actual standard. Therefore, to 
be "standard" compliant in the pedantic sense, you'll need to use "To" 
with a colon and then a space... as described in RFC822.

RFC2822 is on the standards track, but it is not yet a full standard.
See also http://www.apps.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1796.html


Best wishes,

Rick.

-- 
Rick Murray, eeePC901 & ADSL WiFI'd into it, all ETLAs!
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