Mailhosts - definitions

[aardWolf]

I currently have several disposable e-mail addresses at Sneakemail.com, which all forward into my Spamcop account. The page says that I should set up the mailhosts for each e-mail address I have. I registered the first address with no problems at all. When I registered the second address, it replaced the first one on the list of registered servers. Do I only need to register once per mailhost, or once per e-mail address (as the page says) ?

[dbiel]

The purpose of Mail-hosts

To identify the mail hosts/mail servers used by you to recieve email and to separate them from those used to send you mail. To find the demarkation in the received headers where they switch from servers "belonging" to you or your ISPs/hosting companies and switch to received headers showing the source of the email.

The goal of Mail-hosts

To avoid accidently reporting your mail servers when using the SpamCop reporting services.

What addresses need to be registered?

Only addresses that you receive mail at that you are going to report as spam using the SpamCop reporting services.

Note: If you have multiple addresses that are handled by the same server, then registering any one of the addresses will suffice.

Mail-hosts simplified

What you will see when you look at a mailhost:

1: the general name of the mailhost as established in the spamcop files. This name is somewhat arbitrary and as the name for a given set of servers (ex. earthlink servers) is set by the first person to register them the name might not be what you expect. If the name is seriously strange it can be changed by writing to deputies <at> spamcop.net.

2: the list of mail servers used by the mailhost. This may include specific mailsever names as well as domain names.

3: the IP addresses of the relays used by the mailhost. Not all IPs are necessarily listed; if DNS/rDNS/DNS is correct then the server may be identified by the domain name.

4: the last e-mail address you registered that used that specific mailhost.

A more detailed summary follows:

The "Mailhost name" is the registered name (as it appears in the spamcop database for mailhosts)

Note: the name may not seem to be correct due to the way it is created.

The mail host can service many different domains. As an example "Mindspring" is the mailhost name for Earthlink as well as for countless other domains.

"Email address" is the last email address that you registered that uses the "Mailhost name" indicated above it. You may have many different addresses and or domains, but as long as they use the same "Mailhost name" only the last one registered will be listed.

"Hosts/Domains" is a bit confusing.

What it actually is, is a list of the names of the various mail servers utilized by the "Mailhost name" Those names appear in a drop down list.

Note: not all domains handled by the mailhost may be listed in the drop down list!!!!

<Edited by Ellen -- some additions and deletions. Many thanks for writing this up>

Edited August 6, 2004 by Ellen