[Mailman-Users] error messages in the archive

[Mark Sapiro]

Daniel Carvalho wrote:

>Our SMTP server has a limitation in the number of messages it can send
>per hour, so it started to reject messages, and the Mailman server
>interpreted then as bounces. Until now, everything normal. 
>
>What seem strange is that some error messages appeared in the mailing
>list archive page.
>
>These lines were taken from the "archive by date" page:
>
># [CA-info] Status   The Post Office
># [CA-info] Returned mail: Data format error   Mail Delivery Subsystem
># [CA-info] Mail System Error - Returned Mail   Automatic Email Delivery
>Software
>
>The archive is supposed to show the messages that were send to the list.
>This means that all subscribers receibed these error message? Or mailman
>get confused and put these message in the archive?


It appears that there are two different issues. The messages in your
archive are not the kind of bounce messages that you would see from an
SMTP "number of messages" limitation, so what I think is happening is
that some non-compliant MTA at the intended recipient's end is
returning a bounce to the address in some header which happens to be
the list posting address rather than returning the bounce to the
envelope sender which is the list-bounces address.

Then your list is accepting these messages and they are archived and
sent to the list.

There is another possibility. The intended recipient in the first
archived bounce message is <lista-info at meusite.pt>. This seems an
unlikely address to be a list member, so maybe what is happening is
some spammer sent out a bunch of spam which spoofed your list as the
sender, and the bounces are being returned to your list, and your list
is accepting them.

-- 
Mark Sapiro <msapiro at value.net>       The highway is for gamblers,
San Francisco Bay Area, California    better use your sense - B. Dylan