(note: I'm the author) I have to agree with this guy here. Since I wrote the plugin, I've been in touch with at least 10 mail admins who were interested in bringing their server closer to spec. Course I'm not quite sure what spec is, I'm just a hacker who is sick of spam on his box and used a bit of hazy long-term memory topped with common sense to come up with my rules.
The current version that I'm running on my MTA actually sends a reasonable error message to the remote admin to the tune of: 450 Sender A.B.C.D has no reverse DNS. Please contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] if you think this was bounced in error. or 550 Hostname rejected. Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] if you think this is an error. There's also new support for ENV vars set by the tcpserver. If KNOWNIP is set, the connection automatically passes my tests, but I generally let the other plugins take their stab at it instead of giving it an all-clear. Additionally, I hardcoded a small name-based white-list because my kids' school uses a sometimes-on, dynamic-ip setup for their mail. Abysmal, but I have to live with it. I guess that routine oughta be config-file controlled. Make no mistake, this plugin is a heavy hand. Nobody pays me for my mail services so I get free reign over how they're handled and if the users don't like it, they can shell out some cash to someone who will care even less about their personal issues than I would. If people are interested in trying these changes I'll go update the web page with new code (including config-based white-list) and send the link back to the list. One intersting side effect of my bastard-op ethos is that clamav (with frequent virus definition updates) has only managed to find ONE virus-laden email in the past 2 days because the vast majority of the propogation attempts are coming from hostnames that I block. Bonus. -Frank P.S. I've also since renamed the plugin to hnbl: HostName Bl[ao]ckList (haven't nailed down the vowel yet) because the old name was ugly in my logs. On Tue, 23 Mar 2004, Skaag Argonius wrote: # I disagree with you and robert about remote mail admins not giving a damn. # Every mail admin i've talked to online, made the efforts to fix the # problems, because I am hosting mail for some companies that do some serious # business. Lost mail means lost business! I've helped them understand why # they need a reverse dns record in the first place (yes many don't know!), # and explained many other aspects of mail administration to them, and they # were more than happy to help. Obviously, I was not the only person blocking # their mail, and they were relieved to know they were more compliant now, and # that their mail would be accepted by more servers on the net. # # It reminds me of that story with the little kid, about changing the world. # Unlike others (donno if you saw the movie "American Splendor") I do beleive # that people are basically good inside :-) # # My friends call me a fatal optimist. # # Aric
