[PLUG-TALK] [PLUG] Tracing delayed email

[Keith Lofstrom]

On Mon, Oct 15, 2018 at 07:32:53AM -0700, Dick Steffens wrote:
> Not frequently, but often enough that it's noticed, an email I send
> takes very long to arrive at its destination. I know I can turn on
> full headers and look at an email I receive, but other than having
> the recipient forward the message back to me, is there some way for
> me to trace the route an email takes?

Email to me will sometimes get delayed.  I currently use
"greylisting" on my mail server.  The first time a new
email server contacts me, it is told to "call back after
two minutes", when it will get added to a "verified" list
and the message forwarded.

Back in the Good Old Days, that meant that the spammers
would give up and the good guys would follow the standard
email protocol and try again.

Today, the spammers try repeatedly, and many of the biggest
so-called good guys have server farms that retry from a
different server every time.  So, greylisting is broken.  I
will need help setting up certs and the new protocols that
the Big Guys have redesigned email to use.  Real Soon Now.

Of course, it is the Big Guys that send me much of the
unwanted crap, and they add barriers against those not
using privacy-destroying Big Guy email "services".  It's
time for a new internet, probably a new telephone system,
and maybe armed drones to attack the worst spammers. 
Except the spammers will get armed drones, too.

Keith

-- 
Keith Lofstrom          keithl at keithl.com