It is my custom to use "special" e-mail addresses for subscriptions to certain services. It helps me sort incoming e-mail. It also tells me who has sold my address to whom. I do this -- as many people do -- using the perfectly valid '+' character. So, up until I just renewed my antivirus subscription, I was "fma+nav@avolio.com."

But, noooooooo. Their programmers toss the "+" thinking it is an invalid e-mail character. It is not invalid. There is a special place reserved for these programmers when they die. (Or am I just in a grumpy mood?)

On Tue, 23 Mar 2004 10:36:36 -0500, Eric Hacker, Enterprise Security Information Architect, FleetBoston, suggests, "You're just grumpy. :) The programmer was doing data validation and probably referenced incorrect specs or just didn't bother researching the valid email address character set. I think the fact that they bothered to do validation, even if incorrectly, means that this sin can be forgiven.

Eric (yes, that is his real name) is right. I need to be more gracious, just as they need to be more careful.