On Sunday 20 November 2005 21:11, Jeremy Harris wrote:
> > What about some responsibility among blacklist operators? Why not
> > provide a way for users who pass some tests to register dyndns-type
> > hostnames for whitelisting?
>
> At risk of being regarded as rude and unhelpful,
Not at all.
> I'd suggest
> that such is not the list operator's job. They're merely
> offering a list to MTA admins, not dictating that it be used
> nor how. If the MTA admins want to punch holes in a list
> used as a blacklist, perhaps by overlaying a different list
> used as a whitelist, they can. If they want to maintain
> such a list, intended to be used as a whitelist, they can -
> and if they want to offer that list to others, they can.
>
> In the meantime, any argument should be between the users
> at each end of a mail connection, and their mail admins.
Have you ever tried to get an administrator -- even at a university you
work for or with which you are working on a project -- to whitelist an IP
or hostname? They flatly won't do it, in my experience.
It's very easy to slap more blacklists on your mail configuration and get
good results -- this is why it's done and I understand that. But it's
also very easy to be lazy and say "We are not going to lift a finger to
deal with anyone else's inconvenience."