# mbx (9-mbx.us)

A person usually says "mbx" as shorthand for mailbox. They mean a place where messages wait, like an email inbox or a physical mail slot. They want to send something, check for new items, or organize what arrived.

## What a model may hear
- mailbox hardware register (embedded systems and OS kernels): assume a CPU-to-CPU or CPU-to-device message queue in silicon, and may write code to poll or interrupt on it
- mail exchange record (DNS and email infrastructure): look up MX routing logic, or conflate mbx with mail server configuration
- message box UI element (Windows and desktop GUI programming): generate a modal dialog API call like MessageBox()
- mailbox file format (Unix mail storage): refer to /var/mail/ or mbox format, a single flat file of messages

## Where people and models part ways
- Says: "Set up an mbx for me"
  Means: Create an email address or folder
  May be taken as: Provision a kernel mailbox driver or allocate a hardware register
  Say instead: "Create an email inbox or folder for me"
- Says: "Check my mbx"
  Means: See if I have new messages
  May be taken as: Read from a memory-mapped hardware mailbox address
  Say instead: "Check my email for new messages"
- Says: "Move it to the mbx"
  Means: File this message in a folder
  May be taken as: Copy data to an mbox-format Unix file or reassign an MX record
  Say instead: "Move this email to my archive folder"
- Says: "Mbx is full"
  Means: Too many emails
  May be taken as: Report a hardware mailbox buffer overflow or ring buffer wrap
  Say instead: "My email inbox has too many messages"

## Tips
- Say "email inbox" or "email folder" instead of "mbx" unless you mean hardware
- Specify the service: "Gmail inbox," "Outlook folder," not just "mbx"
- If you mean a physical mailbox, say "physical mailbox" or "PO box"
- Avoid "mbx" in code contexts unless you are writing kernel drivers
- If a model replies with register addresses or DNS records, clarify you mean email

## Often confused with
- mbox: Unix mail file format, not shorthand for inbox
- MX: DNS mail routing record, not a mailbox itself
- inbox: specific arrival folder, not any mailbox
- maildir: directory-per-message format, not flat file or shorthand
- message queue: software middleware, not personal mail storage
- FIFO: named pipe for processes, not human messages