Lots of times I see someone asking a question and they talk about their sending domain. And it’s sometimes not 100% clear which domain they mean by that – and when we’re talking about alignment and reputation it can make a difference. So here’s a list of (some of?) the different places a mailserver uses a domain. Hostnames Machine Hostname: What the operating system...
Cousin domains
When I checked in on Facebook this morning there was a discussion from a couple people frustrated by cousin domains. I share their frustration. Kitten running through field with text “every time a marketing department registers a cousin domain, god kills a kitten” Cousin domains are a major problem for ISPs trying to protect their users from phishing and other fraud. Because so many companies use...
Organizational Domain
We often want to know whether two hostnames are controlled by the same person, or not. One case for that is cookie privacy in web browsers. We want pages at www.blighty.com and images.blighty.com and blighty.com to all be able to set and read cookies for each other – so a user only needs to log in once for pages or images on all of them to work well together. So we allow all of them to...
Back from MAAWG
Had an all too short trip to M3AAWG. It was great to see old friends and meet new folks. I have lots to talk about and a poll to get into the field once I get caught up on client work. While I’m deep in the depths of my inbox, I thought I’d share a bit of insight into the question of new domain vs. subdomain that often comes up. I can’t stress this enough. subdomain.example.com...
The long tail of domains
I frequently get clients telling me that they have about 15 (20, 30) major domains on their list, and then a long tail of domains with only a couple of recipients. If you sort simply by the left hand side of the @, that’s true. When you’re sending email, it’s not just the domain in the email address that is important. Of equal importance is the MX. The MX is what actually...
Domains need to be warmed, too
One thing that came out of the ISP session at M3AAWG is that domains need to be warmed up, too. I can’t remember exactly which ISP rep said it, but there was general nodding across the panel when this was said. This isn’t just the domain in the reverse DNS of the sending IP, but also domains used in the Return Path (Envelope From) and visible from. From the ISP’s perspective...
NetSol opts users into new $1850 security program
Network Solutions Auto Enroll Security
Yahoo now auctioning domain names
This summer Yahoo shook up the email ecosystem by publicly announcing they were recycling usernames. The shakeup wasn’t so much that they were recycling usernames, but that they did it in a way that compromised user information and account security. Any user that had an account tied to a recycled Yahoo account is at risk for having their PII leaked. Folks are still dealing with the fallout...
Looking towards the future
I had the opportunity to go to a seminar and networking event hosted by Return Path yesterday evening. The topic was “Email trends in 2012” and it was presented by Tom Sather. If any of you get the opportunity to go to a talk presented by any of the Return Path folks I encourage you to do so. They know their stuff and their presentations are full of good information. One of the trends...