[Mailman-Users] Bounce issues with Yahoo

[Brad Knowles]

At 9:55 AM -0800 2006-03-02, Harold Paulson wrote:

>>  Like most people who've been running mailing lists for 20+ years, I
>>  have strong opinions about list policy. Please address the mechanism
>>  I asked for instead of seeking to discuss the policy issues.
>
>  You have a policy problem with your MTA, not your MLM.

	Actually, you're wrong.  This is a problem with the MLM which 
causes problems for the MTA.

>  Your MTA SHOULD NOT accept email that it won't deliver.

	You get an e-mail message from fred at yahoo.com, which is obviously 
a valid domain, and presumably a valid sender address.  This address 
is sending a message to one of your mailing lists -- how is the MTA 
to know that the MLM would hold the message for moderation or reject 
the message because the sender is not a subscriber to the list?

	How could this possibly be a pure MTA problem?

>                                                           Your MTA
>  SHOULD reject email it can't or won't deliver.  Reject, not bounce.

	That is not at all the case here.  Please don't mis-apply an 
appropriate solution to one problem to another problem that may 
appear to be similar, but is in fact totally different.

>  The solution is MTA-dependent, and I don't recall seeing any help in
>  the Mailman FAQ, but it's been a while since I looked.

	That's because it's not an MTA problem.


	Basically, you've got to choose between the lesser of two evils. 
Neither solution is "good", as they both have serious consequences 
for your users and the community as a whole.  For some people, one 
solution will be better.  For others, the alternative choice is 
better.

	You need to look at your own situation and make up your own mind 
as to which is the better choice for you.  You need to be prepared to 
re-visit that decision in the future, in case the situation changes.

-- 
Brad Knowles, <brad at stop.mail-abuse.org>

"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little
temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

     -- Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), reply of the Pennsylvania
     Assembly to the Governor, November 11, 1755

  LOPSA member since December 2005.  See <http://www.lopsa.org/>.