Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2002 20:05:46 -0500 (EST)
From: "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl at KeithLynch.net>
To: WSFAList at KeithLynch.net
Subject: [WSFA] Amusing apology from Earthlink
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

One message on this list was rejected by Earthlink/Mindspring (on
which we have three subscribers) as suspected spam.  After getting the
message through via another route, I brought this to the attention of
the appropriate people, and just received the following apology.  Note
the name at the bottom, which pretty much explains everything.

Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2002 17:28:45 -0500 (EST)
From: openrelay at abuse.earthlink.net
Subject: [WSFA] Issue 021024-22975551

  Hello,

This email is in reply to a message you've sent to
openrelay at abuse.earthlink.net or a similar address on the week of October
21st, ending on the 25th.

During the week indicated, the Earthlink mail servers erroneously refused
mail connections from many hosts across the Internet.  This problem
happened due to a bug in the the way our mail server software loads
configuration data used to block spam destined to our members.

The error message you received:
550 Dialups/open relays blocked. Contact <openrelay at abuse.earthlink.net>

... is normally intended for mail hosts that Earthlink has blocked in order
to protect our subscribers from unwanted commercial email.  However during
this week, the error was passed to many mail servers which were not
intentionally blocked by Earthlink.  If you received this error during this
time frame, it's likely that you or your email providor are not being blocked,
and have been able to successfully route mail to the Earthlink network as of
the evening hours of 10/25.  If you find yourself still running into this
error at the time you receive this message, then your host has been blocked
and you are asked to please reply to this mail or contact
openrelay at abuse.earthlink.net for assitance in being unblocked.

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this problem created.  We strive
for uninterrupted service for all of our customers (and those trying to
communicate with them), and we realize the disturbance that such an outage
creates impacts people in important ways.  This is why we've already
implemented, and placed into production new means to prevent these errors
from happening again.  Additionally, we have launched an internal
invesitgation, triggered by this event, in ways to ensure better
responsiveness to matters such as this.  We are dedicated to improving our
reliability, and we thank you for your patience.  We do not expect any issues
of this nature to affect our network ever again.

Thank you for contacting Earthlink.

Regards,
Larry Fine
Earthlink Abuse Department
http://earthlink.net/about/policies