[Mailman-Users] Commercial hosting for Mailman lists?

[Eric S. Johansson]

At 05:41 AM 10/5/1999 , Michael Stevens wrote:
>On Mon, Oct 04, 1999 at 07:29:50PM -0400, Eric S. Johansson wrote:
> > If you are running a very active list, I suggest making friends with your
> > ISP and asking very nicely for permission to relay through their mail
> > host.  If you get the ok, then the loading on your line should be minimal.
>
>Interesting. I thought relaying via your ISP's mail host was
>practically compulsory for dialup accounts. I even know of ISPs for
>which I think that's the only way to send email. Does anyone know if
>this is a realistic view of the world, or am I sadly deluded by
>happening to have encountered a few unusual ISPs?

as others have pointed out, there are an increasing number of ISPs that do 
block port 25 access to all machines except for their relays.  Part of my 
business is Internet infrastructure consulting and I have a fairly major 
wholesale provider as one of my clients.  They are learning firsthand just 
how bad "free" Internet access customers can be when it comes to 
spamming.  They are in the process of locking down all of their pops and 
forcing everyone to relay through their mail servers.

This lock down of dial-up access is unfortunately very necessary but it 
really hurts small businesses/activists like myself that run servers at the 
end of a dial-up line.  There is an unfortunate tendency in the industry to 
categorize services as either cheap dial-up accounts connected to a single 
"client only" PC or expensive leased line accounts for folks with a big 
budget.  I'm finding it increasingly difficult to locate a middle tier of 
service supporting the intermittently connected server like I have here at 
Harvee.  This middle tier of service is essential for the widespread 
adoption of thin server technology such as the whistle box and others.

hmmm. smells like a market opportunity is arising.

--- eric

Eric S Johansson	esj at inguide.com	  esj at harvee.billerica.ma.us
This message was composed using NaturallySpeaking.