Re: [amsat-bb] Online Satellite Pass Predictions

[Nate Duehr <nate@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Paul Williamson wrote:
> At 9:36 PM -0600 5/22/06, Nate Duehr wrote:
>> The amsat.org domain/zone file has an inappropriate DNS TXT SPF record 
>> set for the zone amsat.org.
> 
> I am sorry to argue with you in public (and off-topic for AMSAT-BB), but 
> you are incorrect.
> 
>> amsat.org.              604800  IN      TXT     "v=spf1 a mx 
>> a:slowpoke.ucsd.edu ~all"
> 
> This says "You should expect to receive email from amsat.org itself 
> (that's the "a") or from any host that is authorized to receive email 
> for amsat.org (that's the "mx") or from slowpoke.ucsd.edu, but you 
> shouldn't be too surprised if email also comes from anywhere else 
> (that's the "~all")."

Hmm.  I misread the "~all" block and someone had complained to me about 
the SPF record, which is what got me to looking at it in the first place.

I did receive a number of off-line "me too" types of complaints during 
this thread, so there's something going on "out there"... probably a lot 
of overzealous mail admins drop mail even if the "~all" is set, or their 
MTA's don't have the ability to categorize the difference between a hard 
and soft fail in mail filters.

As a support engineer for almost two decades (almost!) I tend to be 
highly sensitive to "hints" that something bigger is wrong (many times, 
customers don't really tell you when they're in pain, for some reason... 
always been that way...) and there's definitely a few e-mails in my 
personal inbox that lean that way, as well as some comments from friends 
at Dayton.  But those folks asked to remain anonymous.  They felt they'd 
already aired this once before and they were not satisfied with the 
answer they received.

Thanks for the clarification Paul.  Looks like the SPF record is set up 
to do something sane, after all.  Folks will probably have to talk to 
their mail admins and forward your highly detailed note to them to see 
if they can get it fixed.  If their mail admin is lazy, or bound by 
corporate rules, they won't find any solace.  If they have a great mail 
admin, they'll "Get 'er done!"  ;-)

Nate WY0X
----
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