Re: RFC 2822 email addresses in tag URIs

On Tue, 11 Oct 2005 18:01:56 +0100, Sandro Hawke <sandro@w3.org> wrote:

> Given that it's possible to include %-escapes later and not really
> possible to remove them later if they are allowed now, I'm inclined to
> go with the "simplicity" approach for now.  I have to admit, though,
> that I don't really know much about the politics of these extended
> e-mail address characters.

I would take the opposite view. If the address is a valid email address  
according to RFC 2822, then it SHOULD be possible to create a mailto URI  
for it. It some stupid person chooses a complicated email address with  
strange characters in it, and wants to publicise it on some website. then  
he will just have to put up with the ugliness of the URI - he has only  
himself to blame, especially if he creates it wrong. The vast majority of  
people do not choose such awkward names.

But if you forbid %-encoding, then over-officious software is going to  
reject perfectly good URIs unnecessarily whilst at the same time more  
liberal software will happily handle them. Getting the over-officious  
sites to change their ways if youm later decide to allow them will be  
difficult.

And it is not as if disentangling %-encoding is hard. Every site handling  
URIs already contains the code to do it.

-- 
Charles H. Lindsey ---------At Home, doing my own thing------------------------
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Received on Wednesday, 12 October 2005 11:15:59 UTC