[Mimedefang] Questions about stream_by_recipient and problems it creates.

[Jan-Pieter Cornet]

On Wed, Jan 24, 2007 at 08:36:59AM -0900, Matthew Schumacher wrote:
> >>[customize 550 reject message after data to specify which user
> >>was accepted and which wasn't]
> > 
> >> Do you think this will work?
> > 
> > In one sense, it will work.  However, in a very important sense, it will
> > fail miserably.  Most senders don't have a clue how to interpret a DSN,
> 
> I appreciate your comments, however, I've found the opposite to be true.
>  During the last 2 years we have had the helpdesk email in the DSN error
> message so that people can request help with spam filtering.  This has

There's one type of sender that will fail horribly in interpreting that
reject message: the automated type. Particularly, mailinglists.

Suppose someone runs a "controversial" mailinglist which happens to
get flagged as spam a lot. Some of your users notice and either
disable the spamfilters or "greenlist" the mailinglist so it won't
be spamfiltered, but not all subscribers at your site do.

Then when the mailinglist next sends a "spammy" message, and suppose it
will send to most subscribers on your domain using a single message,
that message will get a 550 error after data, which might lead to
ALL subscribers being removed from the list... even though the message
said something like "550 successfully delivered to <Drusilla at domain> and
<Xander at domain>, but rejected by <Snyder at domain>."

Drusilla and Xander would still be out of luck...

-- 
Jan-Pieter Cornet <johnpc at xs4all.nl>
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