Subject: Re: [EAI] Advice for non-ASCII and ASCII addresses for the same mailbox (info)

From: Shawn Steele <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:51:09 +0000

I don't want to randomize the rechartering thread, but I wanted to share thoughts about multiple addresses.  I think that "Advice for non-ASCII and ASCII addresses for the same mailbox (Info)" has more interesting scenarios than just ASCII vs Unicode.

I expect that multiple addresses will exist past the transitional period.  Today, shawnste & Shawn.Steele both get mail to me.  In the future I wouldn't be surprised to see multiple Unicode variations as well.

I think that the key "feature" for multiple addresses isn't the ASCII-ness vs. non-ASCII-ness, but rather "Human readable in my native language" vs "Human readable for someone I interact with."  We've been making the assumption that "Human readable for someone I interact with" means ASCII, and, indeed, that might help the transitional phase, but it doesn't have to mean ASCII.

To me the most interesting part of Unicode vs. ASCII is the double sided business card case:   I can have Japanese (including email) on one side, and English (including email) on the other side.  It doesn't have to be an actual card, it's the idea that I might want to communicate in a bilingual environment.

Extending that idea, for someone in Mongolia, it could be desirable to have an email address in Mongolian, and another in Chinese, neither need be ASCII.

It's "obvious" that someone may need an ASCII address paired with their Unicode address to help with during the EAI transition.  Less obvious is that if I meet a Chinese user while on vacation and want to email them a photo, then they'll still need an ASCII address, because I can't type in Chinese, even if my keyboard, software and mailer all support EAI.

So I think that "Multiple addresses for the same mailbox (Info)" is a great idea, but I'd also like it to make the reader consider more than just EAI when they read it.

-Shawn