20 May 2006

Awkward Email

You’d think the format of an email address is a simple thing that all systems have always handled consistently, right? But the list of characters you can and can’t use in email addresses is actually rather complicated and vague, thanks to countless poor implementations of the standards over the years.

Years ago, BBC kids’ show Live & Kicking proudly announced their new email address, live&kicking@bbc.co.uk , only to change it shortly afterwards when they realised ampersands wouldn’t work for everyone.

Strictly speaking, "^~ [V}@tt R*und ~^"@malevolent.com would be valid, but I wouldn’t count on getting it working reliably or accepted by many registration forms.