http://www.surbl.org/faq.html :
To request removal from a SURBL list, please start with the the SURBL Lookup page and follow the instructions on the removal form.
The removal form in case of the "jino-net-MUNGED.ru" domain (listed in PH and SC) asks for "Sending IP addresses", "Typical message advertising the web site". Sending, advertising what? I run a discussion mailing list like this one. A list member posted an on-topic message to the list mentioning the member's website http://swallow.jino-net-MUNGED.ru - on-topic for the list, not phishing/spam/malware/etc. jino-net-MUNGED.ru is a free web-hosting like geocities.com. What recourse honest, legitimate users of that webhosting have? Now the message with blacklisted URL is in the list's archive, new members request a part of archive (few hundred messages in the body of a letter from an autoresponder), a free mail service (ngs.ru) the list member uses rejects the letter, I (who run the autoresponder) get the bounce. What recourse I, the member and the subdomain's honest owner have? I don't understand what to fill in the IP, header and body fields of the form. I tried to send the form not filling some fields and got an error message with "Please contact us by email at whitelist at our domain if you have any questions". I wrote to that email address with details and got:
<Chris_Barton()mcafee.com> (expanded from <whitelist()surbl.org>): host sncwsrelay1.nai.com[67.97.80.204] said: 550 Denied - Spam Detection (in reply to end of DATA command)
So, Chris is protected from complaints of false positives.
http://www.surbl.org/faq.html :
It's a good practice to use little or no filtering on your security mailing list messages and abuse contact addresses, or to bypss them around filtering.
Yeah.
At the same time the list member requested other parts of the list archive, and I got other bounces:
SMTP error from remote mail server after end of data: host imx5.ngs.ru [195.93.186.194]: 550 5.7.1 URL http://sexmagnet-MUNGED.com in your message is blacklisted, see http://www.surbl.org/lists.html
The letters don't contain that URL, I checked. They contain (in the body) email address of another member @sexmagnet-MUNGED.com You can check the website: it's one of seven domains of a free mail service hotpop.com (like hotmail.com or gmail.com). Listed in PH. Huh? Using that logic, lets block the gmail.com domain: I don't know about hotpop, but I have evidence that gmail accepts (with an autoreply), but then completely ignores spam complaints.
Does SURBL care of false positives at all?
I run a MTA too, I for sure shall never use SURBL because I do care of false positives. But plenty mailadmins who use SpamAssassin and directly SURBL never suspect what disservce they make for their users.
http://www.surbl.org/faq.html :
most SC users probably make an effort to uncheck legitimate domains to prevent false reporting.
Are you serious?
Elena Shevchenko