In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
"Roger Fajman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>This suggests that there could be messages other than bounces that
>have a null MAIL FROM.
>
>LISTSERV's "probe failed" message sounds to me like an "error
>reporting message".
You are obviously using a VERY loose definition of the term.
If I decide to write a letter (or have some automated bot do it for me)
to some sysadmins somewhere, telling him that he's a bonehead for con-
tinuing to run an open mail relay, is that an ``error reporting message''
also?? Well... you could call it that.
Where do you draw the line?
I believe that the only sensible place to draw it is to say that the term
``error reporting messages'' (in the context of the relevant SMTP RFCs)
refers to error reporting messages having to do with (and/or generated by)
the SMTP mail transport system itself, not by mere clients thereof. Other-
wise, these ``error reporting messages'' become fair game, and _everybody_
can start calling _their_ messages ``error reporting messages''. (``You're
a dork, and you ice isn't cold enough!'' There! Now _that's_ an error
message! :-) Or how about ``Your request to Majordodo failed because it
was unintelligible and unparsable.''? Or how about ``This is the vacation
program. Joe will read your mail when he gets back from the Bahamas in
two weeks. Until then, live in envy.''?)
I am merely a client of the SMTP mail transport system. So are _all_ of
the various mailing list packages, including Listserv. I don't screw
around and go out of my way to make my messages look like bounces (even
though doing so might appear to be convenient for me in some special
cases... just as it appears to be for some spammers) and I don't believe
that Listserv should be crossing this line either. Again, Listserv isn't
a part of the SMTP transport system, it is a mere client of that system,
as am I.
-- Ron Guilmette, Roseville, California ---------- E-Scrub Technologies, Inc.
-- Deadbolt(tm) Personal E-Mail Filter demo: http://www.e-scrub.com/deadbolt/
-- Wpoison (web harvester poisoning) - demo: http://www.e-scrub.com/wpoison/
