Tools: Getting off a blacklist? (Take II)

Subject: Tools: Getting off a blacklist? (Take II)
From: Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com, CEL <copyediting-l -at- listserv -dot- indiana -dot- edu>
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 10:17:21 -0500

Thanks to all who responded. A few specific comments. Bill Blinn observed <<MAPS is usually quick about removing an ISP from the list... once the ISP has taken care of the problem.>> As noted below, they seem unwilling. But I can now call and provide some of the facts listed below to make a stronger case.

Mike O. noted: <<You can send email from an external hosting provider instead.>> Already doing that--see my sig! <g> But this adds complexity and doesn't avoid the problem of draconian blacklisting with no easy way to solve the problem.

<<Or you can even set up an smtp server locally>> I'm contemplating that for sending out a newsletter I hope to launch later this year. But a good spam filter will note when the "from" header doesn't match that of the SMTP server.

<<it's not a bad idea to have your own domain name hosted separately from your ISP>> That's also in progress, but I've been running like a madman just to get my new freelance career started, leaving little time to set up a credible web site. Won't stop me from registering a domain, though--hopefully this weekend.

<<Don't sweat the blacklisters, just move on.>> I hate running from a fight, particularly when I'm at least partially in the right here.

Gary Callison also commented: <<[Videotron] really do need to clean up their act.>> Thanks for the confirmation and for providing evidence I can pass along.

<<[Mail-abuse is] a small organization, but if you'd read their webpage, you'd have seen the phone number.>> Sure, and a WhoIs query also turned up their number, but I can't afford the time on the phone and the long-distance bill hoping for a more polite response than I get from their e-mail autoresponders.

<<DNSBLs are a powerful tool to stop spam>> They do encourage the ISP to clean up their act, which is a good thing, but don't stop other major sources of spam: people with always-on connections but no firewall or antivirus, and spammers running their own SMTP servers. Relative proportions of each? No idea. I do know ISPs are only part of the problem.

<<The fact that your volume of spam is only increasing means only that videotron is doing little to stop spam from coming into their network.>> Thank God. I've had such horrendous experiences with having someone else filter my mail that I'd switch ISPs if they started filtering my mail. I wasn't complaining about spam loads; Apple's Mail client handles spam brilliantly. I was just pointing out that the blacklists aren't working nearly as well as their proponents claim.

<<I note that MAPS isn't Videotron's only problem: that out-MX is also listed in at least 25 other public DNSBLs>> Thanks. I'll pass this along too. I hadn't received failed delivery messages from non-Mail-Abusae ISPs, but those others may not send rejection messages.

Gary also passed along a useful URL: http://www.scconsult.com/bill/dnsblhelp.html

--Geoff Hart ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca
(try geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com if you don't get a reply)





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