[Am-info] anyone else get the viri message with the empty subject line?

[Mitch Stone]

I think, probably, I need to subscribe with a different e-mail address. 
But previously I had a problem using my domain address, too. My address 
<mitch@accidentalexpert.com> states an x-sender of mstone@accidentalexpert.
com (the account name) -- and apparently that's what the am-info list 
server looks at instead of From. When I needed to unsub a couple of months 
ago, I found that I could not, because I wasn't "really" a subscriber. 
What a royal pain in the butt.

Mitch

On Friday, August 16, 2002, at 09:35 AM, Eric M. Hopper wrote:

> On Fri, 2002-08-16 at 11:10, Mitch Stone wrote:
>>
>> On Friday, August 16, 2002, at 09:04 AM, Eric M. Hopper wrote:
>>
>>> On Fri, 2002-08-16 at 10:56, Mitch Stone wrote:
>>>> Even being subscribed isn't a guarantee that you'll be able to post.
>>>> About 50% of my posts are rejected, which is why I don't bother much
>>>> anymore.
>>>
>>> Hmm, I never have that problem.  Are you sure you always have the same
>>> 'From:' address?
>>
>> Yup. Here is a typical transcript:
>
> Oh, this is a stupid rule by the person who set up the mailserver.  A
> really stupid rule.
>
> Every IP address is supposed to have a reverse lookup to a hostname, but
> many ISPs don't actually do that properly.  Here's what's going on for
> you:
>
> 204.179.120.97 maps to smtpout.mac.com
> smtpout.mac.com maps to any one of 204.179.120.85, 204.179.120.86,
> 204.179.120.88, 204.179.120.89
>
> Notice how the name the IP maps to does not map back to that IP.  I
> think that's what the mailserver is complaining about.  Essentially,
> it's a spam prevention measure.  But, really, basing any kind of spam
> prevention on DNS things is silly.  The two are not strongly related.
>
> Maybe this is a standard feature of postfix, which is the MTA
> essential.org uses.
>
> You might ask the mac.com people if they can arrange it so that their
> DNS records don't trip this strange rule.
>
> Have fun (if at all possible),
> --
> The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they
> be properly armed.  -- Alexander Hamilton
> -- Eric Hopper (hopper@omnifarious.org
> http://www.omnifarious.org/~hopper) --
>