[SATLUG] Fwd: Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender

[Bob Tracy]

Brad Knowles wrote:
> Can someone explain to me how broken a mail system has to be in order 
> to generate this kind of a bounce?

Let's step through the process and see where you hit the third rail:

(1) Sender proclaims his address to be "brad at shub-internet.org".  Cool.
(2) Host attempting to deliver his e-mail is smtp303.his.com.  Clearly,
    shub-internet.org != smtp303.his.com, but that's not necessarily a
    problem.
(3) Check for SPF records: whoops!  None defined for shub-internet.org.
(4) In the interest of being thorough, check for MX records: we've got
	shub-internet.org mail is handled by 5 smtp-in.his.com.
	shub-internet.org mail is handled by 20 smtp-1.his.com.
	shub-internet.org mail is handled by 30 smtp-2.his.com.
    Hmmm...  smtp303.his.com isn't in the list.

I suppose I could have somehow inferred that an "arbitrary" his.com
host is a legitimate delivery agent for shub-internet.org e-mail based
on the MX records, but that's stretching things a bit.  Admittedly, the
sender/source mismatch error doesn't really explain the details behind
what happened, but at least now you know it isn't the simple-minded
check in step (2) above.

So...  Could I pretty-please-with-chocolate-sauce-and-walnuts-on-top
ask you to publish an appropriate SPF record for your domain?  Else,
we'll simply have to agree to disagree about the efficacy of my choice
of anti-spam methods.  Please don't misunderstand...  There's *nothing*
I hate worse than spam *except* rejecting e-mail from legitimate
correspondents.  Geoff will testify to the fact I *will* bend over
backwards to help people in special circumstances.

-- 
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Bob Tracy                   WTO + WIPO = DMCA? http://www.anti-dmca.org
rct at frus.com
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