From: "Kai Schaetzl" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Jdow wrote on Fri, 25 Nov 2005 15:39:42 -0800:
No, that is an improper assumption.
Well, if you do a little more research and go to SORBS and check that IP
you see that it's been in the db since June! If you do even more research
and query all known RBLs you find that it's been in NJABL since 2003! So,
this looks more like this actually *may have been* a DUL range and only
recently used for servers. So, it's Earthlink's fault. And if it's not the
case and these servers (despite their *inbound* name being *outbound*
nameservers which is not very smart) have been on these IPs for long then
it's even more the fault of Earthlink and probably reflects their attitude
how they care about their customers and others in the business. They had
long enough time to get removed.
It appears Earthlink is rearranging a lot of their servers in response
to both enforced use of authenticated smtp and spreading the load on
their servers. The net blocks in which the "earthlink.net" mail servers
exist service many different functions and many different domain names
for ISPs that Earthlink/Mindspring has absorbed over the years. What
seems to be happening is a reorganization of the whole set.
It seems that today they dropped one of these shoes, smtp.earthlink.net
no longer answers its smtp ports. It also is pop.earthlink.net and
answers, now, only to the pop3 port. Earthlink has posted a notice
that now users must use authenticated smtp on their smtpauth.earthlink.net
server addresses.
I am not in the least sure how you figure it is Earthlink's fault
that some BLs have totally spurious determinations for open relay
and dial up. For example, how can a server that requires encrypted
username and password be considered an open relay by any stretch
of the imagination? Yet I have seen the smtpauth.earthlink.net
machines listed as open relays. I have alsu hand verified that they
will not accept unauthenticated relay attempts. As for the theory
that they have declared that any address block with a 1/2 hour TTL
is "obviously" a "dialup" block I note that this is PRECISELY the
recommended practice when making address changes or for maintenance
purposes and that the known dial up block from which this is being
sent has a full 24 hour TTL. So by that test I am NOT on a dialup
block but the EL mailservers are. Something is wrong with the logic
applied.
BTW: I recently see "bottom posting" taking on in newsgroups for no good
reason. In this thread I had to scroll down the whole dig output for the
two last postings to read the reply. Is it really so hard to do others a
favor and trim the quote down? Please, no discussion, just think about it,
thanks.
Best drop that complaint, Kai. If I hear it too much I start sending
email side posted just to be obnoxious. There is no one right way to
post an email message regardless of what some fuggheads may declare.
I am not sending email to a machine. I am sending it to a person. People
adapt. Machines require fixed formats unless the programmers work rather
hard to make them flexible. So rather than complaining it's best to
go with the flow and learn to adapt. {^_-}
{^_^}
