Good sleuthing, Doug!
For similar reasons, one of the other mailing list servers (on which
I admin three lists) has always maintained the restriction of "Plain
Text Only". Any message sent from a subscribed address with a styled
text or other attachment is returned to the originator with a memo
for re-posting. All other such messages are reported to the
administrator only and deleted.
Godfrey
From: Doug Brewer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The PDML server has landed back on the SpamCop blacklist, and I'm sure
others (haven't checked yet). This has been somewhat of a
puzzlement to
me, because with SpamCop it has to be reported. Since it's a closed
list, and the only recipients have to =ask= to get the email, who
would
report it as spam? hmmm...
So yesterday I'm staring at the screen, and it comes to me. The server
=is= sending out spam. The script I have to reject HTML/enriched
text/etc sends back a bounce message. Many of you have seen these
messages-- "please send your message in Plain Text.."-- so you'll know
what happened to your message.
The problem here is that an incredible amount of real spam bombards
the
list address daily. Most of it is enriched in some way. And here is
the
key: spammers generally use spoofed (fake) return addresses to make
themselves harder to track. The addresses used are generally legit
addresses with spam blocking enabled.
So...
When the PDML server bounces the spam, it doesn't go back to the
spammer, it goes, in all its enriched glory, to the address listed in
the headers, thus ticking off spam filters worldwide and being
reported
to the various blacklists.
My task today is to adjust the bounce procedure to not include the
original message, or, failing that, to just eat the offending message
and not responding at all. The downside to that, of course, will mean
that you must remember to set your PDML messages to Plain Text, or
they
will just disappear.
I hate to have to do that, but in the interest of better, more
consistent, delivery of the PDML traffic, I will.
It is my fervent hope that my mucking about in the code will not
adversely affect the continued operation of the PDML server, but in
the
event of an outage, I do have everything backed up as a Plan B
list, and
can switch to that while I continue working.
And speaking of work, I have to do all this while also attempting to
accomplish real work-related work while I am here at work. (!)
Thanks for your patience and continued support,
Doug
List Guy
now, what happens is I push =this= button...?
