[TriLUG] kmail cannot send mail

[Mike Mueller]

On Thursday 19 September 2002 15:33, Jeremy Portzer wrote:
> On Thu, 19 Sep 2002, Mike Mueller wrote:
> > I read through the SMTP protocol (quickly) and did not see a username and
> > password requirement.  I changed my kmail smtp server successfully to 4
> > different servers, three of which I have no known affiliation with.  Then
> > I changed the SMTP server to smtp.blah.com and got a failure message.  I
> > have not found a known working SMTP server that rejects my attempts to
> > send email yet.  All that I can see is that SMTP looks at the IP or FQDN
> > of the originator, the address of the recipient, and the address of the
> > originator. I am not an SMTP amdministrator, but I am guessing that there
> > are controls to widen or narrow the acceptable originator credentials. 
> > In the long headers of the various email tests I performed I noticed an
> > interesting field:
> >
> > Received: from user-0c8h10s.cable.mindspring.com ([24.136.132.28]
> > helo=there)
> >
> > This came from a message I sent through smtp.mail.aol.com (with whom
> > I've never had an account).  My guess is that AOL lets you use its SMTP
> > server as long as you tell it exactly who you are.
>
> By the way, an SMTP server that allows anyone to send mail through it is
> known as an "open relay" and is the main reason that spam proliferates.
> It strikes me as very interesting that AOL's SMTP server allowed your
> connection... was the mail delivered properly?  I assume you weren't
> sending it to an AOL recipient?  I find it VERY hard to believe that AOL
> is running an open relay.

OK I see the connection between RR, Earthlink on TW cable and AOL.  But I 
also was successful using smtp.mail.yahoo.com.

I also remember that I got a temporary ISP in another state this summer and I 
had to change the SMTP server.

I am sending this message via smtp.oreilly.com (we'll see what happens).
-- 
mueller, mike

The larger purpose of the economic order, including Wall Street, is to 
support the material conditions for human existence, not to undermine and 
destabilize them.

-Editorial, The Nation, August 19, 2002