Usage
While its original usage was to provide information about how to return bounce messages, since the late 1990s, other uses have come about. These typically take advantage of properties of the bounce address, such as:
- It is given early in the SMTP session, so a message can be rejected without receiving its body.
- It is typically not seen by users so it can be altered to include additional information without confusing them.
- It is a required part of Mail Transfer Agent software, so it is easy for other programs to use. In contrast, the "from" address in the body of the mail can be on several different headers (e.g. the From:, Sender:, Resent-from:, etc.) or be missing entirely.
Extended uses include mailing list handling in Variable envelope return path (VERP), e-mail authentication, spam filtering, and backscatter reduction in Bounce Address Tag Validation.
Read more about this topic: Bounce Address
Famous quotes containing the word usage:
“Pythagoras, Locke, Socrates—but pages
Might be filled up, as vainly as before,
With the sad usage of all sorts of sages,
Who in his life-time, each was deemed a bore!
The loftiest minds outrun their tardy ages.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)
“I am using it [the word ‘perceive’] here in such a way that to say of an object that it is perceived does not entail saying that it exists in any sense at all. And this is a perfectly correct and familiar usage of the word.”
—A.J. (Alfred Jules)
“Girls who put out are tramps. Girls who don’t are ladies. This is, however, a rather archaic usage of the word. Should one of you boys happen upon a girl who doesn’t put out, do not jump to the conclusion that you have found a lady. What you have probably found is a lesbian.”
—Fran Lebowitz (b. 1951)