RE: [cobalt-users] Off-topic, Mail Server / ORBS Discovery

[David Zanetti <david.zanetti@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

From: Steven Werby [mailto:steven-lists@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2000 6:02 AM
> > Not many do as it has too many false positives. They had 
> blackholed an
> > entire block of my former ISP because of one or two IP's 
> that were open to
> > relay.
> 
> With spam as rampant as it is, I can hardly fault them.  In 
> that situation, I
> suspect it would get the ISP's attention and expedite a 
> solution.  If ORBS
> continually blocks IPs that shouldn't be blocked for an 
> extended period they'll
> probably have to change their policies eventually or no one 
> will use them.

I can fault them easily, they routinely blacklist mailservers which are not
open relays. One of the servers I have dealings with is blacklisted despite
never having been an open relay nor had ever relayed spam. Any discussion
about its listing with the guy who runs ORBS resulted in no change. 

I would _strongly_ advise against using ORBS on your mail servers. RBL is
worthwhile, as it has reasonable standards for mailservers being added to
the blacklist. ORBS is nothing more than reactionary vandalism in many
cases. 
 
-- 
David Zanetti, Unix Systems Administrator and Postmaster
Wellington City Council, New Zealand. Phone +64-4-801-3354
The light at the end of the tunnel is a train heading for you.