Email vs Capitalism, or, Why We Can't Have Nice Things by Dylan Beattie

Email remains one of the most backward-compatible protocols, with the core SMTP specification from 1982 still working today

Email validation is complex because addresses can contain many special characters and formats that are technically valid per RFC5321 but may not be supported by modern email providers

The openness and lack of centralized control that made email successful also made it vulnerable to spam and abuse, leading to various authentication systems like SPF being developed

MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) allows email to support rich content like images and attachments while maintaining compatibility with the original 7-bit ASCII protocol

Different email providers implement varying levels of restrictions on mailbox names and address formats, even when those formats are valid according to specifications

Client-side email validation is less important than server-side validation because the ultimate delivery depends on the receiving mail server’s rules

Email remains unique as an open communication protocol that doesn’t require users to be on the same platform or service to exchange messages

Early email systems had to work with existing user account systems, leading to complications around case sensitivity and special characters

Modern email delivery involves multiple authentication steps and DNS records to prevent spam and verify sender legitimacy

Despite its flaws, email’s decentralized nature and lack of corporate control make it irreplaceable as a universal communication method