Bouncing & Forwarding Problems

[Matt]

I haven't been involved in the recent and numerous discussions regarding bounced/ forwarded e-mails. However, my general understanding is that bouncing non-deliverable messages (i.e. addessed to non-existent address) and forwarding messages to a non-FQ account are now frowned upon. If this is the case, then spammers have successfully broken two very common features of e-mail.

I do not think that only forwarding e-mail on accounts with SpamAssassin in place is going to address the problem of an ISP thinking that FQ is forwarding spam. SpamAssassin isn't perfect and some spam does get past. One idea, would be a conditional forwarder: only e-mails from specific senders would be forwarded. But how can you be sure that a 3rd party network will not improperly flag a valid e-mail as spam? The other issue is the sheer volume of forwarded messages appearing to be spam-like behavior.

Maybe it is time to investigate forging headers on a network level. Basically, FQ would forge the headers of the original sender, rather than appending its own headers.

I am really starting to think that for reliable e-mail it is necessary to use a company that specializes in e-mail. It is really becoming a challenge in the same way that hosting is. The problem with such a solution, is that I would be paying FQ for every account that I want to implement this for. This is particularly irksome, since even if I use a third party DNS to handle these issues, I still have to pay FQ to change its own internal settings, otherwise I will never see e-mails sent from a user on the FQ network. As an aside, has FQ given any thought to partnering with a company that specializes in e-mail?

-Matt

[kitchin]

Yeah, Gmail is a necessary accessory for me these days.

The forging headers thing wouldn't work even if it was a good idea, because there is still a hop from FQ to the next server, and that part can't be forged. It's a two-way connection so the I.P. given must be right. The part that some spammers forge are the Received headers further down in the list, towards the originating sender. AFAIK.

[NoahM]

I still have to pay FQ to change its own internal settings, otherwise I will never see e-mails sent from a user on the FQ network.
Is this true? I always thought that if the DNS was handled by a third party and you set up and MX record, all email would flow correctly including email from the FQ network.

As a side note I have resorted to using a third party email provider for all account I set up these days. They offer better spam filtering, better end user tools (ability to change password, setup auto repliers/vacation notices, etc.) and SSL for POP and SMTP that does not throw up an error message every time I open Outlook. It's not that I feel FQ is letting me down with regard to email, but rather that I feel the circumstances surrounding email these days require a specialized vendor. Just another cost of doing business.

[Wassercrats]

If there's an email service provider that I can securely access from Outlook, that will let me use my domain name instead of theirs, that will let me send a rejection message to only authenticated addresses of someone who sends me email detected as spam, then delete the spam, and that makes its email logs available so I can see if and when mail I sent was accepted by the recieving server, then I'd be willing to pay for it. I don't need the huge capacity that's offered today by webmail services. I just want the above. It seems like a webhosting service would be able to offer it, but I don't know of one.

[Evoir]

Take a look at www.sherweb.com I just set up a client there who wanted to use exchange server, and I think they are quite happy. I don't know about all of your requirements Wassercrats, but they are pretty friendly folks. They answer the phone and seem to be very customer focused. They are Canadian and will speak in French or Engerlish if you like. :)

[Wassercrats]

The telephone support sounds good, but why even bother suggestion them if you don't know whether they provide anything I'm asking for? If you want to suggest other hosts that don't offer what I want just to let me know you don't want me around, then do it in a private message or start a new thread. I don't want you around either, but you don't hear me saying it.

[Bob]

Wasser,

It appears to me that Evie was simply offering information regarding a Provider she recently setup a client with for you to consider and I sure don't see anything else implied in that post.

She was clear that I don't know about all of your requirements Wassercrats, but they are pretty friendly folks. and to me that sure seems like a genuine attempt at providing one provider to at least look at...

If you are not interested in checking them out fine however it seems to me to have been offered in good faith...

-Bob

[Wassercrats]

Evoir has expressed certain feelings about me and another person or two in the past that made me think the above suggestion was off topic and more a hint than something that would be helpful.