relays.ordb.org blacklists EVERY IP address

Mar 29

relays.ordb.org blacklists EVERY IP address

Saw this post from Michele.
Kudos to Michele for posting, I wouldn't have known they had decided to list the world just to get rid of sleepers.

If you have checks against relays.ordb.org configured in your mail server or spam filtering software, please stop querying the list immediately. Use of the list will no longer block any unwanted spam, and the nameservers listed in the domain registration are likely overwhelmed with traffic. This is especially heightened due to the fact that the list was in wide, popular use, and also that it was so recently retired.

Typically mail servers used relays.ordb.org to check if an IP address was on their blacklist and rejected the mail if it was.

A quick look at http://www.dnsbl.com/2007/02/status-of-relaysordborg-dead.html shows

3/26/08 Update: ORDB has "listed the entire world" -- returning any query with a "listed" response. The result is that if you still have ORDB in your mail server config files, you're now blocking 100% of your inbound mail. For anyone still trying to "use" ORDB, you're not going to receive any inbound mail until you disable queries to it.

Posted by Al Iverson at 7:42 PM

So if you used relays.ordb.org ever you had better check to see if it is still in use. Otherwise you may have some egg on your face.

If you must use a list SPAMCOP is still live