[Mailman-Users] AOL's "Client TOS Notification"

[Larry Stone]

On 7/14/07 9:38 AM, Rick Pasotto at rick at niof.net wrote:

> I have recently been getting some of these from one of my mailing lists.
> There is nothing in it (that I've been able to see) that would tell me
> who the user is that is rejecting the email. There are several AOL
> addresses subscribed but only one rejection each time a mailing goes out.
> 
> 1) Have I overlooked something that would identify the user?

Unfortunately, AOL, for "privacy reasons", does not tell you who flagged it
as SPAM. Which of course makes it completely useless for identifying who to
remove from a mailing list.

As Ralf indicated, VERP your mail. Yes it increases your outgoing load but
at least you know who is doing it.

My policy is, given these are recipient requested and confirmed
subscriptions, first time, removal from the list and immediate mail server
ban for mail from their address. If they try sending something to me,
they'll get an SMTP reject that directs them to an information web page.
After one year, they can request reinstatement (by sending to my Postmaster
address which bypasses the ban) but no such AOLoser has ever done so. Second
time, permanent and irrevocable mail server ban. All these lists have
"Attention AOL users: You have voluntarily subscribed to this list. If you
report this message as spam, you will be unsubscribed and banned from this
server" in the footer (right below the unsubscribe information).

> 2) Why would AOL send such a useless email?

Because it's AOL? :-)

-- 
Larry Stone
lstone19 at stonejongleux.com
http://www.stonejongleux.com/