Draft minutes of ripe22-dnswg

> The NL Naming Authority is not a ghost, but a *function*.

I realise that, of course.

> And it doesn't really matter who in a particular case is
> speaking on behalf of the NL Naming Authority:

Yes, it does, or rather, it matters that I know whom I'm addressing
when I write this *reply* message. I want to know if I'm addressing
the same person that I addressed in the previous message regarding the
same matter, or if I have to describe the entire problem once again,
which is often the case with e.g. tax authorities, which usually
implement the same principle. As I said - I have no problems using a
function alias as a technical means of reaching you, and the mail
alias is an important way of signalling which hat I want you to wear
when you read the message, but I want to know with whom I'm dealing.

As an analogy, consider the case when you call by phone e.g. to the
tax authorities. You dial a number to their swichboard (the *function*
number), but you would probably be a bit annoyed if the person that
you finally got connected to didn't present him-/herself with his/her
name, wouldn't you? And when you called them again a week later, you
would still call the switchboard number, but you would address
yourself to the person you talked to the week before, who presumably
knows the case.

Furthermore, if I would like to move this conversation to another
media, e.g. phone, I can easily get a phone number that presumably
reaches you in one way or the other, but getting a phone number for
"hostmaster" is somewhat more difficult.

> the official e-mail address hostmaster at cwi.nl is linked to the
> function and is always used in the From: field when the message is
> an official message/reply/statement by the NL Naming Authority.
> Like in this case.

... which I have no problem with.

> Besides, the standards require that when the From: line differs from
> the e-mail address of the person who sent the mail, a Sender: line
> be present. And that's the case in all mails with hostmaster at cwi.nl
> in the From: line.  That's what we call "implicit identification".

True. My mail agent unfortunately filters this out (my fault, my
problem), therefore I missed this information, and I hereby apologize
for the "assault". My point of view still stands, as a principle - one
should identify oneself, even if one represents a "function" - but I
see now when I take a close look that you did just that in a perfectly
good manner. Again, my apologies.

				Cheers,
				  /Liman