[SATLUG] Fwd: Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender

[Daniel J. Givens]

Thomas King wrote:
> Sorry, wrong name in last reply. Replace "Dan" with "Brad".

I was a little confused on that one.

So the problem with Brad's mail getting rejected from Bob's server is that the
server Brad's mail is coming from is not listed as one of his MX records, nor is
it in an SPF record. If I hadn't setup an SPF record for my domain, I would be
screwed when it comes to sending mail to Bob as well.

This address is only a forwarder to my Gmail account. I can send mail out from
Gmail and from home via my ISP's SMTP server using this address. That's all well
and good when it comes to Bob's server because I had my SPF record setup to
handle that.

I have another address with my consulting company. It also forwards mail to my
Gmail account and I can send mail out the same as this account. That domain has
no SPF records and since I don't have any admin rights over the domain, can't
add an SPF record. Mail from me and from my partners comes from multiple
different servers, ranging from Gmail, Mediacom, and Knology to GoDaddy's list
of servers. All of addresses from jamandall.com, unless sent through GoDaddy's
servers, would be blocked by Bob's envelope checks.

This is a common setup. If Bob is happy with the performance of the rules, then
good on him. I just don't see how the benefit of spam rejection versus cost of
legitimate email rejection weight out, especially when there are other effective
techniques out there that provide satisfactory results.

Daniel