Separate list posts from administration
04Messages submitted to a mailing list and requests to administer it have different destinations. A list-specific -request address remains necessary even if the site also offers a generic software controller.
Adding picnic-request supplies the required route. A generic software alias may coexist; both point to the administrator only by this example’s configuration.
Key idea: LIST@DOMAIN MUST have a LIST-REQUEST@DOMAIN administrative mailbox.
Terms
- Submission mailbox
- The list address used for posting messages.
- Administrative mailbox
- The list-specific address for management requests and questions.
Rules & examples
LIST@DOMAIN MUST have a LIST-REQUEST@DOMAIN administrative mailbox.
- For a submission mailbox LIST@DOMAIN, §6 explicitly says there MUST be LIST-REQUEST@DOMAIN for add/drop requests and other administrative queries.
- The required address belongs to the particular list. A generic mailbox named for list-management software cannot replace it.
- picnic@picnic.example is the fictional submission address. picnic-request@picnic.example is its required administrative counterpart. The drawings do not execute subscribe/unsubscribe commands.
- A generic majordomo@picnic.example alias may coexist in the chosen example. Its presence does not prove that picnic-request exists, and the RFC does not require that software.
- This is an address-naming requirement, not an automatic unsubscribe guarantee or permission to expose membership. Related RFC2369 defines list header command URLs separately.
The list prefix is kept intact. The bounded helper is not a full email parser and does not extend role-name case normalization to arbitrary list names. Subscriber figures and destinations are fictional.
Sources
New to this? Start hereA quick picture + helpful background
Address the function, then route its mail
Imagine addressing a department rather than one employee. The department label stays stable while its internal recipient can change. The destination domain and its mail exchanger still have to recognize that label; a familiar name is not proof of the sender’s identity.
Helpful first, if these ideas are unfamiliar
These pictures are analogies to help you learn. The linked RFC explains the actual rules.
Related RFCs and changes
“Updates” changes part of an earlier RFC. “Obsoletes” replaces it. This list shows selected related documents.