On Tue, Jul 9, 2024 at 12:53 PM Anne P. Mitchell, Esq. via mailop < mailop@mailop.org> wrote:
> > Instead of grumbling, if you can give us information, perhaps someone here > can help you. > > You are right - if an IP is blocked, it's likely blocked for a reason. The question is whether that reason is stupid or not. A lot of times I suspect that the IP address is blocked because of a larger network block. Instead of blocking individual IPs, providers choose to block entire Class-C's or Class-B's. Now, as I've tried to explain - perhaps I did that poorly - that's not the way IP addresses are used any more, at least in some industries. If, as a provider, you are getting spam from 23.239.97.121, 23.239.97.63, and 23.239.97.24 - then when you block the entire Class-C 23.239.97.0/24, you're blocking a lot of IPs that have nothing to do with each other. I understand that you, as a provider, can't really know that. But, as a teaching moment, you - as a provider - should know that this is plausible. I understand that people probably don't want to hear that because it goes against what they've gotten ingrained as how server administration and IP addressing works. There's a lot of "My way works, it's always worked, and that's the way it's always going to be." As I've said, we're on this list to learn, correct? Having said that - I don't so much mind a provider blocking an entire Class-C, BUT when a verified administrator of an IP address in that Class-C writes in about the block and you can find zero/zilch/nada complaints of spam from that IP address, then it should be excluded from the block. This process shouldn't take days or weeks to complete, it should just take hours. And if a too-big-to-fail email service provider is going to block IP addresses, they should offer Feedback Loops and they should have to send something to that Feedback Loop before the IP address can be blocked. Numerous times I've had IPs blocked when the IPs were on Feedback Loops and I've gotten zero/zilch/nada from the Feedback Loop prior to the block happening. I've never gotten a hint of ANY activity on any of our servers with Google because apparently we fall below the cutoff to register any type of feedback. If we register that low, then what's the justification for blocking a server when we can't get any feedback? My gripe right now with AT&T is why do they even include abuse_...@abuse-att.net in their rejection notice if they're never going to respond to inquiries to that address? I wrote that address on July 2 about an IP being blocked. It's now July 9th. I haven't heard a peep from them. No I have written them again. I shouldn't have to. If they're telling me to write to abuse_...@abuse-att.net to get my issue addressed then they need to expect email at abuse_...@abuse-att.net and respond to those messages. They're not doing that. Before they shutdown their community forums there was a HUGE thread there about the lack of response from abuse_...@abuse-att.net. This has been going on for years. It's not necessarily the act of blocking IPs that gets stuck in my craw, it's the lack of avenues for timely remediation. It's the lack of evidence to support an IP specific block, whether that be a Feedback Loop or listing with another publicly accessible RBL. It's the lack of avenues to notify beforehand that a new IP address will be sending out mail. It's the lack of understanding that an IP address owner isn't necessarily the administrator of the server operating on that IP address. And there's a lack of caring to learn anything new. This will be the end of email when providers and administrators all around the world stick to their "it's my way or the highway" motto and email interoperability goes out the window.
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