Is this a scam or is it for real?

[Rolf Turner]

On Wed, 30 Jun 2021 16:29:18 -0600
Karl Berry <karl at freefriends.org> wrote:

>     Subject: Is this a scam or is it for real?
> 
> Hi Rolf - it is real. Your email address was/is rejecting mail from
> tug.org, so mailman eventually gave up and marked your address as
> undeliverable. (It's surprising that you received this message, since
> it too was sent from tug.org, but the ways of mail filtering are
> unfathomable nowadays.)
> 
> The actual smtp error was:
>     <r.turner at auckland.ac.nz>
>     (reason: 550 csi.mimecast.org Poor Reputation Sender. -
>     https://community.mimecast.com/docs/DOC-1369#550
>     [6FzhYkwMOUm1dBVUyVadBA.au23])
> 
> I suppose your university uses mimecast for mail filtering. I cannot
> guess why mimecast thinks tug.org has a "poor reputation". No url is
> given for administrators (me) to request amelioration, so there's
> nothing I can do. Maybe your university sysadmins can do something,
> like request tug.org be removed from mimecast's blacklist. 

Thanks Karl. Yes indeed, the U. of Auckland does use mimecast.
(Unfortunately so, IMHO; it's a prize pain in the pohutukawa. :-) )
However my understanding was that mimecast, in the first instance,
"consults" the recipient about the message and offers choices:  accept,
accept and permit sender, accept and permit domain, reject, reject and
block sender, reject and block domain.  I would of course *not* have
rejected and blocked mail from tug.

I just now checked my "personal portal" wherein are given a list of
rejected messages and a list of blocked senders and domains.  Nowhere
does "tug" appear.

So it's mysterious. :-(  I will try to follow it up with the U. of A.
IT Services.  Wish me luck! :-)

Thanks again.

cheers,

Rolf

-- 
Honorary Research Fellow
Department of Statistics
University of Auckland
Phone: +64-9-373-7599 ext. 88276