Re: Where does email get bounced to?

Twayne wrote:
Using Apache + PHP on linux.
Say I use php to send an email, and that email bounces.

Where does it end up?

Can I force the return address so it would consistently go to a
particular address?

Thanx



To legitimately "bounce", an e-mail must be returned to the sending IP with a code that says it can't be accepted. That server in turn returns it to the Sender via the same chain it arrived in.

Accepting an e-mail and THEN bouncing it later is also possible, is frowned upon, and very often "bounces" the e-mail to an innocent party, NOT the sender, since it may use the forged envelope information to determine where to send the bounce TO. This is not a "bounce"; it's a New Mail being sent out! Since effectively ALL spam has forged headers, this type of returning mail will always send the bounce to the wrong person, and innocent party, effectively spamming that person and making YOU open to spam complaints.

So, when you bounce, to do so correctly, you must do it during the initial attempt to send you the e-mail and while you are still connected to the IP; that way the spam/whatever doesn't even traverse the network when you refuse it.

Feel free to research what I'm telling you with authorative sources; if you can't find any, let me know and I can set you up but right now I'm in a hurry.

My 2 ¢



Thanks much. I see I have a bit of research to do, and some testing.

The long version:

We want to send out newletters by email. Some of our members complain about outgoing emails bouncing, so I am expecting the newletters will have the same problems and want them to bounce back to a specific account. That way, the sendee address can be temporarily dropped until the member whitelists us, or can be convinced to just download the newletter off the website.
The site is on shared hosting, and I am concerned bounces will end up in the ISP's mail. These days, there is so much returned spam with fake return addresses that bounces are to be expected even for well known organizations (which ours is not).
.

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