[Techtalk] Email failure messages

[Cindy Wong]

> Hard to say, they don't give you enough information.  (some ISPs are very
> informative, some treat the least bit of info as gold.)
> 
> Could be blacklist, but *usually* bounces will say if it's due to an RBL
> listing (and which one); could be the ISP level spam filters.  But if I had
> to put money on it (and I wouldn't put much on a certainty) I'd say that
> assuming 1.2.3.4 is an IP# that it's a ISP mail server level filter of some
> sort.

I had encountered this problem once; my dad complained he suddenly
couldn't send email to my uncle's work address using Hotmail.

I first tried sending from all of my email accounts, including Hotmail
and Yahoo, plus a few others.  Only the one from Hotmail didn't go
through.

Then I dig (dug?) the MX host name, telnet to SMTP manually.  The
server wouldn't accept anything if I put a Hotmail address in "Mail
From:".  I told my uncle (who's IT head at his company) the whole
incident and forwarded him the result; turns out it was their RBL
blacklisting Hotmail.

> It should only be the individual's if they're running their own mail
> service: this was rejected by a mail server, rather than being accepted,
> delivery attempted and failing, and then a bounce being sent, which is what
> you'd see if it were the individual's filters at the ISP level.

If you really need to talk to the recipient, try sending from another
email account.  Tell him/her about your problem and make him/her bug
the sysadmins.  =)

Cindy