smtp

[Paul Wright]

In article <mailman.1003964907.14974.python-list at python.org>,
Cliff Wells  <logiplexsoftware at earthlink.net> wrote:
>It seems it should be legal to send directly to that server, since that's the 
>final destination anyway.  Am I wrong, or is just AOL?  I don't have access 
>to enough separate ISP's to test this very well.

Couple of things to note:

- Some ISPs block outgoing SMTP connections to everywhere except their
  mail server, as an anti-spam measure. If you're using one of these,
  your program won't work.

- Some ISPs transparently redirect outgoing SMTP connections to their
  own mail server. So you're program will probably still work in those
  cases.

- Some ISPs block connections SMTP from dynamically allocated IPs to
  their mail servers, so even if your ISP isn't one of the two kinds
  mentioned above, you may still find yourself blocked by the server
  you're trying to connect to.

The safest thing to do would be to ask the user for their mail server,
or extract it from the registry under Windows (I bet Outlook Express
stores it somewhere).

-- 
----- Paul Wright ------|  "I hear that if you play the NT 4.0 CD backwards,
-paul.wright at pobox.com--|  you get a satanic message" "That's nothing. If you
http://pobox.com/~pw201 |  play it forward, it installs NT 4.0!"
                        | --seen on rec.humor.funny