[HECnet] Mailing list...

[Rob Jarratt]

I use a very common ISP (Virgin Media) in the UK. I know that sometimes emails to me get bounced because of DKIM or whatever (I know very little about these things). I know that people in the know think that these spam protection systems are no good, I don't know why because as I said I know little about all this, although it seems to me that the *intent* behind those systems is good. However, it seems to me that, for whatever reason, they are used by a lot of the major ISPs, so might you end up excluding a lot of people if you unsubscribe them for using an ISP that uses these measures?

I really wouldn't want to change my ISP just for one mailing list, because I also get TV and phone all through the same provider, so it would be quite disruptive. But I think it would be good if you were able to tell people that you choose to unsubscribe. I have a Hotmail account I could use instead if I really had to.

Regards

Rob

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE <owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE> On Behalf
> Of Johnny Billquist
> Sent: 30 July 2020 22:40
> To: hecnet at Update.UU.SE
> Subject: [HECnet] Mailing list...
> 
> Hi, all.
> 
> I have an issue with some mail servers/providers that some people use.
> I'm open to some suggestions, but also want to point out something to people
> who are subscribed.
> 
> Sometimes I start getting mails bouncing for some subscribers. I do try to check
> why, and occasionally there have been something I could do about it, but many
> times it's simply what I would call a broken mail server for which there isn't
> much I can do. So occasionally I unsubscribe people for which I'm just getting
> bounces all the time.
> 
> One such example is one server who claims that 130.238.19.25 don't have
> reverse DNS. Which is clearly incorrect. It have had proper DNS setup for at
> least 20 years. I have no idea how that mail server is set up, but I can't do much
> about it.
> 
> Other times mails gets denied because of some blocking service who thinks the
> hecnet mails are just spam, or the host (Update) is untrustworthy, or have a
> bad reputation or what not. Usually not much I can do about those either. If
> people (or companies) decide to make use of such services, and such services
> give that kind of information, it essentially just means that you'll not be getting
> the hecnet mails any more.
> 
> There is only so much I'm willing to do to try and sort such things out.
> I do consider such services and solutions to be fundamentally broken to start
> with, but I will of course not say that people can't use them if they want to. But
> chances are that you'll get dropped from the HECnet mailing list sooner or
> later, unless you are using some service/technology that actually do work (not
> sure if any such exists).
> 
> An example I got today (actual mailbox names redacted):
> 
> > <XXXXXX at xs4all.nl> (expanded from <hecnet-list>): host
> >     mx4.xs4all.nl[194.109.24.139] said: 550 5.7.1 Spam message rejected by
> >     06ULCRRd021949 on mxdrop301.xs4all.net, reason=CH (in reply to end of
> DATA
> >     command)
> 
> reason=CH ?
> What does that mean. The mail is rejected because it came from Switzerland?
> (Yes, I do live in Switzerland, and yes, it was a mail I sent to the list, but really?
> Is all mail from Switzerland suspect now?)
> 
> > <XXXXXX at me.com> (expanded from <hecnet-list>): host
> >     mx01.mail.icloud.com[17.57.152.9] said: 554 5.7.1 [CS01] Message
> rejected
> >     due to local policy. Please visit https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204137
> >     (in reply to end of DATA command)
> >
> > <XXXXXX at me.com> (expanded from <hecnet-list>): host
> >     mx01.mail.icloud.com[17.57.152.9] said: 554 5.7.1 [CS01] Message
> rejected
> >     due to local policy. Please visit https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204137
> >     (in reply to end of DATA command)
> 
> 
> Rejected due to local policy?
> Following the link don't really give an answer, but just various
> recommendation.
> 
> Most of those recommendations are already done (and have been the whole
> time) by the HECnet list. SPF and DKIM we don't use. I had that setup for a
> while on a mail server of my own, and came to realize that it hurt more than it
> helped, so I removed it again. I doubt this will be setup on Update any time
> soon, but either way, it's not there now, and it's not even clear if that is the
> reason for the rejects, or some other thing. There is also no way to even get in
> touch with Apple in this case, to fix this. So there is a fair chance I'll have to
> unsubscribe a few more addresses in the near future...
> 
> I am not really interested in moving the mailing list to some other host. Any
> suggestions from anyone on this topic?
> 
>    Johnny
> 
> --
> Johnny Billquist                  || "I'm on a bus
>                                    ||  on a psychedelic trip
> email: bqt at softjar.se             ||  Reading murder books
> pdp is alive!                     ||  tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol