Frustration with spurious posts.

[Anthony Baxter]

>>> Alan Kennedy wrote
> Is there some sort of mail header that these virus checking gateways
> could examine, to see if the email is from a list, rather than an
> individual, before it sends these emails? Maybe we need to invent one,
> e.g.
> 
> X-Dont-Send-Me-Virus-Reports: YES

Won't help - the virus that fakes 'python-list at python.org' (or 
python-list at cwi.nl - while it's old, I'm sure it's out there still)
won't generate this header.

Greg Ward's aware of the issue, and he's working on it - offers of
useful round tuits to help him wouldn't be a bad thing. 

> > "Be strict when sending and tolerant when receiving."
> > RFC 1958 - Architectural Principles of the Internet - section 3.9
> 
> Do this mean we should quietly tolerate the "you sent me a virus!"
> emails?
> 
> ;-)

No, it means you should send very firmly worded "fix your fucking
mail gateway" messages to the people sending back useless bounce
messages.

-- 
Anthony Baxter     <anthony at interlink.com.au>   
It's never too late to have a happy childhood.