spf-discuss
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Re[2]: [spf-discuss] C/R Pros and Cons

2008-10-14 23:14:56
On Tue, 14 Oct 2008, Sanford Whiteman wrote:

in  stating  the  message could not, would not, be accepted. You can't
arbitrarily  decide  that  some  5xx codes are merely advisory. No MTA
vendor will, or should, listen.

I don't need to.  Some 5xx codes, like 551, *are* already advisory in
rfc2821.  It just means "can't deliver it that way, but try this other
way".  551 has been proposed as an alternative to SRS.

Maybe  if  you wrote an SMTP extension RFC and tried to go through the
actual process. But you can see how easy that was for SPF. And all for
the hacked-together concept of HTTP-before-SMTP? Please.

Hey, I don't use C/R - and I have never responded to C/R (email wasn't
important enough to take the trouble).  I'm just saying I don't mind
it as long as there is no backscatter.  And a 5xx code is a reasonable
way to say "can't deliver it that way - but do this instead".

Look, the tough-guy domain admin thing is itself a marker of FUSSP and
pretty  boring.  Nobody cares what you do with your personal domain. I
refer  to any messaging system whose users have the ability to get you
removed  from your job. There are outliers, of course, companies whose
users  inexplicably  kowtow to the lab rat attitudes and condescension
of  their  IT  staff, and these places may be happy to implement ideas
like  5xx  C/R.  Otherwise,  it  is  the  stuff  of  home networks and
family-name domains.

The domains I manage are for real customers who have to receive timely
emails from partners who all too often are completely clueless about
maintaining their email systems properly (as in rfc compliant).  That is
why I don't use C/R.  But it is a legitimate option (minus the backscatter)
for those who don't want email unless the sender cares enough to jump
through the hoop.  If I was Donald Knuth, I'd use C/R.

Spam may eventually drive large email providers out of business.

I  am  sure  people are not champing at the bit for a hobbyist hosting
provider using draconian C/R. I certainly do not think that Earthlink,
C/R "pioneers", have nabbed a net increase from GMail or Yahoo lately.

Look, I don't use C/R.  But I *do* do a much better job of spam abatement
with my "hobbiest" software than the big email providers.  The key
is customizability - which requires company (or family) specific domains.
A large part of the success is "draconian" rules (like requiring a valid
HELO, a valid PTR, or an SPF Pass or Neutral), which are relaxed and
customized for specific business partners with braindead email.  The 
system learns about business partners based on who the local users send
email to - plus I can add manual rules for braindead mailing lists.

-- 
              Stuart D. Gathman <stuart(_at_)bmsi(_dot_)com>
    Business Management Systems Inc.  Phone: 703 591-0911 Fax: 703 591-6154
"Confutatis maledictis, flammis acribus addictis" - background song for
a Microsoft sponsored "Where do you want to go from here?" commercial.


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