..though equally, people think you’ve evil even when you’re not
So I’m trying to send an email, because I use Postfix on my computer (it’s a built-in mail server on OSX, and pretty easy to set up if you use Postfix Enabler, which is well worth the money). Using Postfix means it goes directly off my machine. So it seems to come from whatever IP I’m connected to.
Which means though that when I’m at home, I get bounces like this. This particular page, though, is just bonkers. This IP’s overall reputation is “neutral” and the risks from email, web, FTP and VoIP are all given as “low risk”. But there’s no way to get them to pass it on; no way to show that you’re reputable.
Then again, if there were, spammers would work around it. We live on a web of distrust.
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November 2nd, 2006 at 7:14 pm
The linked page clearly shows (to an email geek)that you’re sending email from an IP address that appears in a blacklist for dial-up addresses. The DUL (Dial-Up List).
Most email systems now filter emails from these address into junk mail folders or even specifically block them as the Borderware MXtreme mail firewall has done in your case.
There’s no need to send email directly and it should always be sent via a known, trusted, relay server like that of your ISP.
By blocking such addresses we over 50% of all email which represents around 0.25million messages a month. All spam, except for the demi-geeks who run mail servers at home.
November 3rd, 2006 at 12:46 am
The question, though, Ben, is: *why* does this address appear in a blacklist for dialups. This is a broadband IP. And it says on the page that
It’s simply that “The ip is listed on a dynamic address space list (DUL)”.
OK, so why don’t I just send through my ISP? Because I move around, that’s why. I maintain six separate email addresses, and for two of them I send directly off my own machine, via Postfix (which is built in). If you move around, then your ISP won’t accept an email apparently from you that comes from an IP address outside its allocated range - that’s my experience, anyway.
This does make Gmail invaluable as a “sure to arrive” form, but it’s not the only way I want to email people. For one thing, I like to use Eudora but the version I’ve got can’t handle Gmail (can’t do SSL).
As I said, it’s because of spam. I know it’s blocked because of the dialup list. Yet it also says on the page that there’s no reason to distrust it - no history of bad behaviour. That makes it a pretty rubbish DUL, in my opinion. At least orgs like Spamhaus wait to see if you’ve done something before adding you to the list.