spf-discuss
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: Softfail (was: Standard Authentication Query)

2005-03-30 21:06:00
...... Original Message .......
On Thu, 31 Mar 2005 04:43:11 +0200 Frank Ellermann 
<nobody(_at_)xyzzy(_dot_)claranet(_dot_)de> wrote:
Todd Herr wrote:

All that aside, the ~all bit in our SPF record means "SPF
Neutral", as I understand it.  This means, as I understand
things, that Road Runner neither confirms nor denies that a
given IP not explicitly mentioned in our SPF record can be a
legitimate source of mail from Road Runner.

JFTR, that's in fact the definition of ? or NEUTRAL, but ~ is
SOFTFAIL, something between NEUTRAL and FAIL.  One of my pet
peeves, our esteemed draft editor invented it, I think it's
on the short list (together with ptr and exp=) to be removed
from later SPF versions.

The German proverb for SOFTFAIL is "wasch mir den Pelz, aber
mach mich nicht nass" (wash me but don't wet me (?)).  Wayne
tried hard to justify SOFTFAIL in the last draft, and IMHO he
did a good job, SOFTFAIL is essentially for testing.

One more ingenious way to process SOFTFAIL at the receiver is
a kind of greylisting, you get a 4xx with an info, and if you
try again the receiver accepts the mail.  I've forgotten who
proposed and tested this idea (Scott, was that your baby ?)

No.  Not me.  I can't take credit.

Scott Kitterman


<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
  • Re: Softfail (was: Standard Authentication Query), Scott Kitterman <=