Re: Recipient validation - WAS: Re: Moderated posts?
On Wed, 15 Oct 2014 15:15:24 -0400
Jerry Stuckle <jstuckle@attglobal.net> wrote:
>
> It is either OK to delete an email or it is not. You can't have it
> both ways.
It is *not* OK to silently delete an already accepted email, it does
indeed break SMTP as a reliable protocol ('reliable' as in: 'either we
deliver it or we tell you we didn't').
However, if the Reply-To: is forged, i.e. if it is spam, the
alternative is considerably less OK. Bouncing a spam message simply
delivers *the* *entire* *message* to an innocent third party, having
been laundered through your (presumably legitimate and respectable) mail
server.
So it isn't OK, but there's no alternative to doing it. That's how you
have it both ways.
--
Joe
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