2nd November 1999

Coming from the "Where'd You Come From" department, Lockergnomaniac Bill Hudacek explains an e-mail mystery. I noticed that with Lockergnome issues, every once in a while, a greater than symbol would appear at the beginning of a paragraph. I never knew why -- until now. "Internet mail standards dictate that the word "From" (at the start of a line) is one of the keywords that is used in a mail header. Now, even though the header officially ends after the first blank line, many mail transfer agents take the cautious approach of "escaping" the word "From" whenever it appears as the first word on a fresh line." Wow -- now you know what to do to keep that silly symbol at bay.