[R-390] OT: SORBS

[Barry Hauser]

Hi Don ...

Re your explanation & solution -- I don't think so ...

Apparently they block by IP address of the SMTP (sendmail) servers. That 
might be a sequence of IP addresses, such as an entire 256 number group 
(last 3 digits of the 12-digit IP numerical address.)

Apparently SORBS does not block by email address or domain name -- not the 
from- or reply- address either.

I had the same problem with QTH and posts bouncing.  My main email with the 
"hausernet" domain is provided by the same company that hosts my website of 
that name.  They do not provide me with a connection to the Internet.  We 
use Optimum Online -- the cable modem company here.  The web host does 
provide a sendmail server, and we sometimes use that.  It was blocked.  When 
I changed over to the Optonline sendmail server in the Outlook Express 
settings, the posts went through.  Same from/to/reply email address, just 
the sendmail server was changed.

Here are three workarounds:

1.  Get a cheap or free separate email account, such as with Juno.  They 
have a Megamail package -- email only, no Internet access -- for $25-30 per 
year that allows attachments up to 10 megs and what is now 2 gigs of 
storage -- they and others have all sorts of packages.

2.  Use a free Web email site for posting mail, such as 
http://www.mail2web.com/

You use your existing email address -- it's just an alternate means to 
retrieve and send your email.  Very handy if borrowing someone's computer or 
when traveling.  When you send/post, you are using their sendmail server.  I 
haven't used it recently, but will later on to make sure it's sendmail 
server is not blocked.

3.  Of course, you can go directly onto the QTH site and post from there.

Barry









----- Original Message ----- 
From: "2002tii" <2002tii at softhome.net>
To: <R-390 at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2005 12:01 AM
Subject: [R-390] OT: SORBS


>> SORBS is an acronym for something. It is also the name of a group
>> of highwaymen that have set out on the holy quest to rid the internet
>> of spam.
>
> I'm sorry to be so dense, but I don't understand how SORBS affects 
> qth.net.
>
> Or maybe I do:  SORBS distributes a list of "bad" addresses and/or 
> domains,
> and individuals and/or ISPs load SORBS's list into their spam filters. 
> (It
> would have to be the ISP to generate a bounce message, wouldn't it?)
> Unfortunately, qth.net goes against the grain for typical listprocs and
> shows the poster's address as both the "From:" and the "Reply-To:"
> addresses, instead of using the listpost address and moving the poster's
> address to another header ("Original-Sender:" or something).  (This is
> doubly unfortunate -- it means most e-mail clients will address follow-up
> posts to the original poster if you hit "Reply"; if you want to post to 
> the
> list, you have to paste in the listpost address.)  Anyway, some list
> members (or more likely, their ISPs) use the SORB list.  When a list 
> member
> whose domain is blacklisted posts a message, it generates a bounce message
> from every SORB-enabled recipient, which goes back to the poster, not to
> the listpost address, because that is what the "From:" field contains.
>
> Anywhere close?  If so, the cure would be to reconfigure the qth.net
> listproc to put the listpost address in the "From:" and "Reply-To" 
> headers.
> Presumably, the listproc checks the "From:" address of incoming posts and
> will only let members post, so the bounce messages would be harmlessly
> discarded, not posted to the list.
>
>> This goes back to the days when some ISPs were open gateways for spam,
>> like GTE. Now, the only spam that gets through an ISP is from somebody
>> who signed up with the ISP and agreed not to spam, but didn't mean it.
>
> Would that this were true!  There are still zillions of open servers on 
> the
> net, they're just harder to find these days.
>
>
> Don Charles
> _____________________________________________________________
>