I was just going to send this to the committee but damn-it, it's a technical query, related to DNS & Spam protection - just happens to involve SLUG emails. May interest others.
I've noticed an awful lot of SPAM++ we get goes through various bur.st mailservers. Took me a while to realise slug uses these as backup MX servers. ;; ANSWER SECTION: slug.org.au. 37805 IN MX 10 slug.org.au. slug.org.au. 37805 IN MX 20 mail3.bur.st. slug.org.au. 37805 IN MX 20 mail4.bur.st. slug.org.au. 37805 IN MX 20 mail5.bur.st. slug.org.au. 37805 IN MX 30 maddog.slug.org.au. According to http://bur.st these are supposed to flag SPAM for us - but maybe it doesen't work for backup MX's?? Actually on further reading here:- http://bur.st/support.html#Spam_filtering It says they filter stuff at mail1.bur.st but don't mention the others. In our experience at EverythingLinux you've gotta sort the SPAM out at each of the MX servers. I think the other bur.st MX's are the weak links (particularly mail5.bur.st aka squeak.bur.st), plus since maddog's up all the time mail never filters down to mail1.bur.st and maddog's more prone to accepting SPAM from the backup MX hosts. I suggest we reduce the MX records such that it's like this:- slug.org.au. 37805 IN MX 10 slug.org.au. slug.org.au. 37805 IN MX 20 mail1.bur.st. slug.org.au. 37805 IN MX 30 maddog.slug.org.au. and see how that affects the spam situation. Duh.. then again mx 10 and 30 are in fact the same host IP so that narrows it down to 2, the first 2 above. ++ Examples are the recent rounds of Rolex adverts, Bank frauds and sex toys - mostly the stuff with utf-8 subjects too. Maybe the utf-8 is as hard to read by spam protection as it is for me using pine :-) -- ---<GRiP>--- Electronic Hobbyist, Former Arcadia BBS nut, Occasional nudist, Linux Guru, SLUG Secretary, AUUG and Linux Australia member, Sydney Flashmobber, Tenpin Bowler, BMX rider, Walker, Raver & rave music lover, Big kid that refuses to grow up. I'd make a good family pet, take me home today! Some people actually read these things it seems. -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
