[AusNOG] Google mail contact?

[Mark Delany]

On 27Nov12, Mark Newton allegedly wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 27, 2012 at 04:50:15PM +1100, Damien Gardner Jnr wrote:
> 
>  > And the thing is, the emails are being *accepted* - The SMTP spec is 
>  > very clear, that if a server accepts an email, then it must EITHER 
>  > return an NDN, or deliver it to the user.  
> 
> Everyone repeat after me: An RFC is not the same thing as a standard.

Everyone repeat after me: when you're accepting billions of messages
per day - 70+% of which you know are spam - being fast and loose with
delivery, programming deceptive responses to SMTP clients and taking
collateral damage is not just de rigueur it's de minimis.

And to be nit-picky. Where in the "SMTP spec" does it say "deliver it
to the user" either literally or in the sense that it has to be
visible? gmail, as the user-agent acting on behalf of their user, are
well within spec (sorry Mark, RFC) to process the contents in any way
they see fit. Including dropping it on the floor or placing it in a
mailbox that is short-lived or invisible?


Mark.