alan@znyx.com asks:
>How do you sort true invalid addresses from semi-true addresses
>which also deliver? Or should we even care?
I use procmail to sort returns into three folders:
Known temporary failures go straight to /dev/null:
I happen to know some sites are unreliable, but want to stay on board.
Quota-exceeded, mailbox full, disk full, etc and anything with
"4 hours" or "local config error" in the subject qualify for the trash can.
Likely true failures go to a Duds folder, to be unsubscribed:
These include unknown users and most anything from aol.com
The rest go into a folder for a human to look at. Reviewing this
group lets me add to the recipes for the other two.
I've found that some sites, at least, don't get the messages that
bounce off various host timeout problems. These seem like obvious
temporary problems, and I could imagine that the messages are
queued for later delivery, but in most cases where I've got
solid feedback, the answer is that the messages were missed.
I'll work with a determined subscriber to help fix a problem.
Sometimes the host has problems, and I can get mail through to
them at a more generic domain address. If so, I can send the
error logs for them to help their postmaster. I went so far as
to call one guy on the phone; it seemed ALL his mail was coming
back, including queries to his postmaster. Postmaster unknown?
Then he managed to get a post to the list, so I called and the
upshot was that he switched ISPs.
jimo@eskimo.com
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