Kind of OT - Error when forwarding spam to Centurylink

Thu Aug 22 01:24:05 UTC 2019

On Thu, 2019-08-22 at 02:11 +0200, Ralf Mardorf via ubuntu-users wrote:
> On Wed, 21 Aug 2019 17:21:56 -0500, Chris wrote:
> > > If their spam blocker is blocking the e-mail, then the content of
> > > the
> > > e-mail has already been added to their filters,, no need for more
> > > submissions.
> > >   
> > 
> > Hmm, I guess that does kind of make sense.
> 
> If so, then why do the people from the ISP think the causes are Linux
> and Evolution? They could just say, that spam that already is in the
> database is blocked, further reporting is impossible. If spam is
> already in the data base, then why does the OP still receive it? Ok,
> it
Ralf, you are absolutely correct, it doesn't make sense and I did state
that after I said the above that no matter what the spam reporting
address should accept spam reports no matter what.

> Calling them "idiots" is unfair. You can't expect that an ISP pays
> technicians for doing a call center job or written support. If they
> would do, the costs for the customers would be way higher and only
> a minority of customers would benefit from such enhanced support.

So, if that's the case Ralf how do you suggest I get support for an
issue like this? I agree with you that it's absurd for an ISP to know
the ins and outs of every distro and every MUA that's used. However
when presented with debug output that shows it's being rejected at
their server I'd think someone in the tech support hierarchy would be
able to look at it and realize there may just be an issue somewhere.

> 
> The OP does use "X-Mailer: Evolution 3.28.5-0ubuntu0.18.04.1".
> 
> It is 1 year old.
> 
> [rocketmouse at archlinux ~]$ lsb_release -r
> Release:	rolling
> [rocketmouse at archlinux ~]$ grep evolution\ \( /var/log/pacman.log |
> grep 3.28.5 | head -1
> [2018-07-31 04:56] [ALPM] upgraded evolution (3.28.4-1 -> 3.28.5-1)
> 
> You even won't get full support by the Evolution team for such an
> outdated version, since even they don't remember all settings/menu
> options of outdated releases.
> 
Yes, I could run the most recent version of Ubuntu to get the latest
release of Evo but I prefer to stay with the LTS releases. 

> However, only a technicians could notice that an issue isn't related
> to
> the operating system or MUA of a customer. It's more cost efficient
> to
> support platforms, that allow support by people who aren't
> technicians,
> because those platforms are less diverse and follow a professional
> marketing strategy.
> 
Agreed
> 
I have set up a basic Thunderbird mailer just to test whether or not
when spam is attached to a message to their spam reporting address it's
rejected. I ran TBird in SMTP debug mode

[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP Connecting to:
smtp.centurylink.net:587
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 0
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP Response: 220 smtp.centurylink.net
ESMTP
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 14
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP Send: EHLO [192.168.0.220]
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 0
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP Response: 250-smtp01.onyx.dfw.sync.lan 
says EHLO to 71.221.16.42:54336
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 0
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP Response: 250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 0
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP Response: 250-PIPELINING
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 0
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP Response: 250-8BITMIME
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 0
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP Response: 250-STARTTLS
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 0
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP Response: 250-AUTH=LOGIN
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 0
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP Response: 250 AUTH LOGIN
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 4
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 21
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP Send: STARTTLS
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 0
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP Response: 220 2.0.0 continue
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 19
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 14
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP Send: EHLO [192.168.0.220]
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 0
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP Response: 250-smtp01.onyx.dfw.sync.lan 
says EHLO to 71.221.16.42:54336
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 0
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP Response: 250-8BITMIME
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 0
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP Response: 250-AUTH=LOGIN
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 0
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP Response: 250-AUTH LOGIN
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 0
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP Response: 250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 0
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP Response: 250 PIPELINING
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 4
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 21
[21425:Main Thread]: D/SMTP SMTP auth: server caps 0x20120, pref 0x300,
failed 0x0, avail caps 0x100
[21425:Main Thread]: D/SMTP (GSSAPI = 0x800, CRAM = 0x2000, NTLM =
0x4000, MSN =  0x8000, PLAIN = 0x200, LOGIN = 0x100, EXTERNAL = 0x400)
[21425:Main Thread]: D/SMTP trying auth method 0x100
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 15
[21425:Main Thread]: D/SMTP SMTP: MSN or LOGIN auth, step 0
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP Send: AUTH LOGIN
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 0
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP Response: 334 VXNlcm5hbWU6
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 13
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 16
[21425:Main Thread]: D/SMTP SMTP AuthLoginStep1() for 
cpollock at embarqmail.com@smtp.centurylink.net
[21425:Main Thread]: D/SMTP LOGIN auth
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP Logging suppressed for this command (it
probably contained authentication information)
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 0
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP Response: 334 UGFzc3dvcmQ6
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 18
[21425:Main Thread]: D/SMTP SMTP Login response, code 334
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 17
[21425:Main Thread]: D/SMTP SMTP AuthLoginStep2
[21425:Main Thread]: D/SMTP LOGIN auth, step 2
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP Logging suppressed for this command (it
probably contained authentication information)
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 0
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP Response: 235 2.0.0 Authed. Go on.
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 18
[21425:Main Thread]: D/SMTP SMTP Login response, code 235
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 3
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP Send: MAIL FROM:<
cpollock at embarqmail.com> BODY=8BITMIME
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 0
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP Response: 250 SPF validation soft
failure
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 5
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP Send: RCPT TO:<spam at centurylink.net>
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 0
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP Response: 250 2.1.5 Accepted for you
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 6
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP Send: DATA
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 0
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP Response: 354 3.0.0
continue.  finished with "\r\n.\r\n"
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 7
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 8
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP Send: .
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 0
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP Response: 250 SPF validation soft
failure
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 9
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP Send: QUIT
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 0
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 0
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP Response: 221 2.3.0
smtp01.onyx.dfw.sync.lan closing connection
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 10
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP entering state: 12
[21425:Main Thread]: I/SMTP SMTP connection error quitting 804b0002,
ignoring 

I also Bcc'd myself and did receive my copy. But, I have no idea
whether it really got to the intended address or not. If TBird works
and for some reason EVO doesn't then I guess my only alternative is to
save all their spam to a folder and attach it to a message.

-- 
Chris
31.11972; -97.90167 (Elev. 1092 ft)
19:44:43 up 8 days, 11:01, 1 user, load average: 0.96, 1.11, 0.82
Description:	Ubuntu 18.04.3 LTS, kernel 5.0.0-25-generic