Re: 209.196.45.44

[ Note: I do not represent DSBL. I just track [email protected] to keep abreast
of possible issues that might affect my use of DSBL, and occasionally I help
out with questions. You may get responses from other subscribers to
[email protected], possibly even with dissenting opinions. ]

On Thu, 28 Dec 2006, [email protected] wrote:

> It is impossible to work with your company.  I have been trying to
> remove my IP legitamately for over 2 months.  Unfortunately you have a
> very very terrible policy that prevents me from submitting more than
> once per week.  It is unreasonable.  Why would you have an unreasonable
> policy?  Please allow me to submit more than once per week, and work
> with me to remove my IP from your blacklist.
>
> How am I supposed to coordinate efforts with Godaddy, when I am only
> allowed 1 try per week?  You are unwilling to work with Godaddy to
> resolve this issue, even though some of your admins admit they use
> Godaddy for their email service.  Why wouldnt you work with the LARGEST
> hosting company in the world?  It does not make sense.  Please work with
> Godaddy, or give me the means to work with Godaddy to resolve this
> problem.

Godaddy can contact [email protected] if they have any technical questions. 
Please note that secureserver.net appears to be deleting your mail, 
and DSBL is not a party to that situation.

As a reminder: I do not represent DSBL. And as an aside, the personal 
domain that GoDaddy hosts for me does not receive any important e-mail, 
so if they delete any I would not know (I know they reject at least some 
e-mail in protocol, but I don't know what mail they delete, if any).

> #1.  You know my site is set up properly.  You can easily test it out.

No one can test for the absence of hidden flaws. For that reason, DSBL 
takes your word for it and only requires postmaster or abuse @ your 
domain to be reachable.

I'm not aware of any block list that even bothers to test for security 
any more, now that ORDB has thrown in the towel (and frankly, numerous 
were the times when ORDB gave a mail server a clean bill of health even 
though the server could trivially be tricked into relaying, using a 
method not included in their test suite, not to mention the people who 
tricked ORDB by simply disconnecting the server for the duration of 
the test).

> #2.  My email is hosted at the largest hosting company in the world.

I don't recall ever seeing a GoDaddy customer write before. Most GoDaddy 
users apparently either let GoDaddy handle all their e-mail, or handle 
all e-mail themselves. Both are excellent strategies.

> I hope you realize that by not helping innocent people, such as myself,
> you become worse than the spammers.  Your service becomes useless
> because people can not depend on it.  Thanks to your service, good
> emails get blocked while spam emails survive.  Spammers would just move
> on.  Please review your policies and do what it takes to make it
> possible for the good people to coexist with your service.

The policies have taken shape over the years to meet one of the needs of 
postmasters who, in their job, are hobbled by other postmasters who, for 
whatever reason, discard e-mail regarding operational issues like 
security and spam. Users of DSBL choose using the list, in part, in 
order to not have to deal with postmasters who are known to delete mail. 
If you do not agree with that policy, please take it up with whomever is 
rejecting your e-mail. The policies fit my personal requirements like a 
glove, which is why I take some time out of my agenda to answer 
questions on this list.

The irony of the situation is that you know of your DSBL listing because 
your mail recipients are honest about it. It doesn't seem to bother you 
that some of your e-mail is surreptitiously deleted and instead you are 
asking the bearer of the bad tiding to paper over the problem. I'm out 
of my depth here: even if I wanted to, I cannot change DSBL's policies.