email sender's address has percent sign (%) in it....

Question

Level 2

328 points

email sender's address has percent sign (%) in it....

Hello. I'm trying to figure out why there is a percent sign (%) in the middle of a friend's email address when I receive it. It is certainly not part of his email address.

It has gotten frustrating because I can't just hit "reply". If I do, I have to then edit the address and remove the % sign before I send the email.

He has no idea why this is happening either. Apparently, no one else that he emails has complained about this.

I'm using mac mail, but the % sign shows up in his address even on my android phone.

Any thoughts?

Thank you!!

Posted on Apr 17, 2012 3:31 PM

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Answer 1

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Apr 17, 2012 4:29 PM in response to guitar guy

Hello,

Is there a number after the % sign that might stand for a strange character?

See...

Then there is the % address operator: user %domainB@domainA is first sent to domainA, which expands the rightmost (in this case, the only) percent sign to an @ sign. The address is now user@domainB, and the mailer happily forwards your message to domainB, which delivers it to user. This type of address is sometimes referred to as “Ye Olde ARPAnet Kludge,” and its use is discourage

http://www.faqs.org/docs/linux_network/x-087-2-mail.address.html

Is it listed that way in Mail's Previous Recipients window, or in Address Book?

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Answer 2

guitar guy Author

Level 2

328 points

Apr 17, 2012 4:34 PM in response to BDAqua

hey aqua, thank you.

Yes, it was listed that way (the wrong way) in the Previous Recipients window.

I deleted it from there. It was ok in the address book.

Lets see what happens when he emails me again.

And no, there was no number after the % sign.

Thank you, as always!

Alex

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Answer 3

guitar guy Author

Level 2

328 points

Apr 18, 2012 12:28 PM in response to BDAqua

yes, the From has the % in it. Weird.

And I'm not sure what UTF-8 encoding is. I can ask the sender.

I'm now awaiting to receive an email from him to see if removing the address with the % sign in it from the Previous Recipients window fixed it......

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Answer 4

guitar guy Author

Level 2

328 points

May 1, 2012 7:39 AM in response to BDAqua

Hey Aqua, after I removed the incorrect address (with the % symbol in place of the @ sign) from the Previous Recipients window, it didn't fix it.

I still continue to receive his email address with the % symbol instead of the @ sign in the "From" field.

And weirder than that is that the "From" address also adds an extra "@hotmail.com"

So, if his address is xxxxxx@hotmail.com, I receive it as xxxxxx%hotmail.com@hotmail.com

Very odd.

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Answer 5

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

May 1, 2012 9:52 AM in response to guitar guy

OK, I think I found the reason...

Then there is the % address operator: user %domainB@domainA is first sent to domainA, which expands the rightmost (in this case, the only) percent sign to an @ sign. The address is now user@domainB, and the mailer happily forwards your message to domainB, which delivers it to user. This type of address is sometimes referred to as “Ye Olde ARPAnet Kludge,” and its use is discouraged.

http://www.faqs.org/docs/linux_network/x-087-2-mail.address.html

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Answer 6

guitar guy Author

Level 2

328 points

Jul 17, 2012 6:35 AM in response to BDAqua

ok, i have pinpointed this issue to my friend's iPhone.

When he emails me from his computer, it is fine.

When it is from his iPhone, the address has the weird % sign in it, plus the part before the @ is written twice.

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Answer 7

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Jul 17, 2012 10:26 AM in response to guitar guy

Whew, good work, not much for an idea how it's setup, but he seems to be from on provider/domain through a second provider/domain...

Might even be sending from account#1@isp.come using account#2@isp.com

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Answer 8

guitar guy Author

Level 2

328 points

Jul 19, 2012 8:47 AM in response to BDAqua

yeah, and getting in touch with this particular friend is a challenge to say the least.

I may have to get used to deleting his address and re-entering correctly after clicking "reply" to one of his emails.

Luckily, the auto fill makes retyping his correct email address a simple process.

=)

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Answer 9

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Apr 17, 2012 4:44 PM in response to guitar guy

Thanks Alex, anxious to here if it reoccurs, if so might ask if their using UTF-8 encoding or not... oh, in the received eMail does From: show that % sign?

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