re: postmaster document, helpdesk convention

[Allan Cargille <[e-mail]>]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the responses to my message.  Instead of sending 10
responses, I'll aggregate them all.  My thanks to Marko, Russ, Mary,
Jeroen, and Harald for the discussion.


First, please excuse my tired brain and sloppy fingers.  Of course I
meant to support Surname=Postmaster, not GivenName=Postmaster.


Second, there seems to be consensus that supporting 
    
    C=xx; ADMD=yy; S=Postmaster
    C=xx; ADMD=yy; PRMD=zz; S=Postmaster

is a Good Thing.  From what I have heard on the list, I think that
people would be comfortable including this as a requirement in the
GO-MHS community.


Third, Jeroen asked 
} 2. Is it really necessary to explicitly state that we want to
}    enforce this in the GO-MHS community only? If an RFC is to
}    affect the Internet community (and GO-MHS), I don't see a need
}    to explicitly state that other communities need not implement it.
}    Isn't that kind of obvious if they don't follow RFCs anyway?
}    I have the same problem with my MBS I-D. I just wrote in the
}    abstract that it is considered highly desirable that other
}    communities also follow the recommendations.

I'm not worried about exactly what text is used to convey the idea.  I
would like it to be explicit that members of the GO-MHS community which
do not have control over the PRMD-level and ADMD-level addresses should
request the authorities at those levels to support the Management
Domain postmaster convention.  Of course, it cannot be enforced--but we
should ask such authorities and at least explain the need.

and also
} 3. And why on earth did I get 5 copies of that mail?

No idea!  Did others have this problem?


Fourth, Russ was asking about helpdesk and postmaster.  If people
think it would be better, I would be glad to see the helpdesk issue
presented in a separate document.  Do people think that is better?

I think the time is *now* to try to reach consensus, so we can either
include the issue in this document, or write a companion document in
time for Alf's RFC to reference the document.

My thanks to Harald for pointing out that Helpdesk is an international
ADMD requirement and will not go away anytime soon.

I agree with Russ, Harald, and others that it should not be a separate
account.  I would be glad to write text that clarifies that mail to
helpdesk should be handled by the same person/account as mail to
postmaster.  So all we're talking about is another alias here.

Russ said
} I feel sorry for the poor user that has to figure out who can help- the
} postmaster or the helpdesk.
} 
} The nice thing about having a postmaster is that you have a single place to
} send e-mail to get help.  I don't see the benefit of adding another address
} where one can get help and I do see the downside.

and I agree *completely* -- the "poor users" who live in the ADMD
world are used to mailing helpdesk.  The "poor users" who live in the
Internet/R&D world are used to mailing postmaster.  We are trying to
seamlessly blend these two worlds together.  Therefore I think that we
should support both.

If people have strong feelings about this, we could phrase supporting
"helpdesk" as a recommendation.  I think it would be better to also make
it a requirement.  So move!


Lastly, I really do think that requiring postmaster support at the
ADMD and PRMD levels will be very helpful.  It would be a big
improvement over the current situation -- I have to refer to the
Domain and RELAY-MTA documents to figure out who to complain to!

Cheers,

allan