"SMTP has outlived its usefulness" (was: Forwarding services)

Posted Jan 16, 2026 10:22 UTC (Fri) by rschroev (subscriber, #4164)
In reply to: "SMTP has outlived its usefulness" (was: Forwarding services) by dskoll
Parent article: A note for MXroute users

You don't register just to communicate to a specific store, of course. With centralized systems, you register once and are then able to send inquiries to any store. People do exactly that in Facebook, for example, or X.

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"SMTP has outlived its usefulness" (was: Forwarding services)

Posted Jan 16, 2026 11:33 UTC (Fri) by Wol (subscriber, #4433) [Link] (3 responses)

And what happens if where you want to go is not federated with facebook? Or (in my case) it's only federated with facebook? (I refuse to touch facebook with a bargepole!)

The choices are basically, either we have NO central authority, or we have ONE central authority and NO CHOICE. Given that the second is (a) a despot's dream, and (b) would almost certainly get shot down in the US at least as a blatant violation of free speech and the right to peaceably assemble, I think that central authority is, basically, completely untenable.

Cheers,
Wol

"SMTP has outlived its usefulness" (was: Forwarding services)

Posted Jan 16, 2026 12:20 UTC (Fri) by pizza (subscriber, #46) [Link] (1 responses)

> And what happens if where you want to go is not federated with facebook?

Or worse yet, Facebook decides to arbitrarily yank the credentials you've been using for the past two decades, locking you out of communicating with pretty much everyone and everything?

"SMTP has outlived its usefulness" (was: Forwarding services)

Posted Jan 16, 2026 12:28 UTC (Fri) by khim (subscriber, #9252) [Link]

Well… that's the reason to create such a system, isn't it? When you can “cancel” anyone with the flick of the finger… it's much easier to control dissent.

I would say that such danger is not the reason for such a system to not happen, but more of a reason for such system to be enforced.

"SMTP has outlived its usefulness" (was: Forwarding services)

Posted Jan 16, 2026 12:49 UTC (Fri) by rschroev (subscriber, #4164) [Link]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating for centralized services. Perhaps I should have added that disclaimer.

I'm just saying that lots of people will not see the requirement of having to register as significant hindrance. When a large part of one's contacts use some service, one is inclined/pressures into using that same service; and once one is using that service, that threshold of having to register falls away.

I'm not saying that's a good thing. Either everyone uses the same service, which leads to a monopoly, which is not desirable. Or everyone uses different services, but when different people in your group of contacts use different services you're pressured into registering for several of them. Not good either.