Date: Fri, 01 Nov 2002 18:09:02 -0500
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
From: Candy Madigan <candymadigan at mindspring.com>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Amusing apology from Earthlink
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

OK, I don't get it.

At 09:11 AM 10/29/2002 -0500, you wrote:
>Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk . . . .
>
>mjw
>
> >>> kfl at KeithLynch.net 10/28/02 08:05PM >>>
>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

Candy