*>
*> As someone who has used the Internet since before it was even *called* the
*> Internet, I can remember when noone would have dreamed of sending email
*> messages that were even 50 kBytes in size. Times have changed, of course,
Ross,
I recall the max size of email being an issue, but I also recall that
we customarily sent around fairly large documents as email messages.
*> and now it's commonplace for people to send email messages that are
*> significantly larger than this.
*>
*> But how large is too large? I recently chastized someone for sending me an
*> email message that was 3.7 MBytes in size. (I currently get my email
*> delivered through a POP mailbox run by my ISP, and the 3.7 MByte message
*> came close to exceeding my quota.) "That's ridiculous," I argued. "Email
*> was not intended for messages even remotely as large as this."
*>
This was addressed in section 5.3.8 of RFC1123, the second Host
Requirements RFC. "Mailer software MUST be able to send and receive
messages of at least 64K bytes in length (including header), and a much
larger maximum size is highly desirable."
*> However, I can't help but wonder if I'm being a bit old-fashioned. Indeed,
*> times have changed, and message sizes that once seemed absurdly large are
*> now quite reasonable.
*>
*> So I wonder, what do people think is a reasonable suggested maximum email
*> message size these days (for messages sent over the public Internet, not
*> just within a private intranet)? Is there a RFC anywhere that lists a
*> recommended maximum size? And should email programs issue a warning if a
*> user tries to send a message that's 'too large'?
*>
*> Ross.
*>
*>
