On Mon, 6 Jul 1998 seebs@plethora.net wrote:

> In message <Pine.A32.3.96.980706111455.15138G-100000@macro.stanford.edu>, Bill 
> Studenmund writes:
> >  This message is in MIME format.  The first part should be readable text,
> >  while the remaining parts are likely unreadable without MIME-aware tools.
> >  Send mail to mime@docserver.cac.washington.edu for more info.
> 
> Hmph.

Sorry. Pine of OCURSE strips this part off. :-)

> >... while talking to mail.weird.com.:
> >>>> MAIL From:<skippy@macro.stanford.edu> SIZE=2829
> ><<< 550 '<skippy@macro.stanford.edu>SIZE=2829' sender address target
> >'macro.stanford.edu' is not a valid e-mail domain (there is no MX record
> >for it). 
> 
> This is probably a spam filter.  The idea is to reject "rapid fire mail
> server" style messages, which are sent directly from dialups, and only
> accept mail from machines which appear to be mail exchangers.  I believe
> this is misguided.

I must agree. :-)

> >??? What is this poop? Since when do hosts HAVE to have MX records?
> 
> It's a common bug for some MTA's to be confused and unable to talk to a
> host without an MX record for it.

Weird. How would one nuke such beasts? I can see wanting to do a dns
lookup on messages to make sure they kinda come from a valid account, well
a real machine, but requiring an MX record's a bit much. :-(

Take care,

Bill