ietf-smtp
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RE: We need an IETF BCP for GREY LISTING

2011-10-12 00:02:45

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-ietf-smtp(_at_)mail(_dot_)imc(_dot_)org 
[mailto:owner-ietf-smtp(_at_)mail(_dot_)imc(_dot_)org] On Behalf Of John 
Levine
Sent: Tuesday, October 11, 2011 9:21 PM
To: ietf-smtp(_at_)imc(_dot_)org
Cc: moore(_at_)network-heretics(_dot_)com
Subject: Re: We need an IETF BCP for GREY LISTING

I really don't see anything to fix.

Ditto.

As far as I know, SMTP has always been a best-effort retry mechanism.  It's 
certainly convenient and cheap, but given the Wild West nature of Internet 
messaging, I'm not so sure I buy the "timely delivery" argument either.  Given 
the widely deployed and varied abuse countermeasures out there, greylisting 
being only one of them, highly important stuff should probably find another 
transport method if arbitrary delay is unacceptable.

Knowing when to retry would be an optimization, but I haven't seen much 
evidence that its absence is a real pain point worth spinning up an SMTP 
extension of some kind.

A BCP about greylisting seems to be a fine thing to do, however.