[geeks] ADMINISTRIVIA: Changes to mail delivery policies

[Bill Bradford]

On Thu, Mar 14, 2002 at 03:34:11PM -0500, Greg A. Woods wrote:
> Some other adjustment you made must have reduced your workload and
> hidden the adverse affects of incorrectly adjusting maximal_queue_lifetime.

Lets see.  I know exactly what changes I've made to my mail server setup.
I see the results.  Cause/Effect.  I know what affects what.

> If you have set "maximal_queue_lifetime=24h" then you will not stop any
> of the DSNs you were complaining about, and you will likely get more
> DSNs from your own mailer, and some of your subscribers will likely
> suffer from lost mail that they may value far higher than you do,
> possibly complaining to you in person.

So?  What are they going to do?  UNSUBSCRIBE?  *OH MY GOD, CALL THE 
HOSPITAL, I JUST HAD A HEART ATTACK!*  

Out of ALL the people on the SunManagers, SunHELP, Geeks, and Rescue
list, *you*, and you alone, are the ONLY person who seems to have a 
problem with what I've done as a *temporary* (yes, read, again, just
so you understand it, T E M P O R A R Y) solution.

Every now and then people email me.  "Since I subscribed to <list>, the
signal to noise ratio has gone beyond what it was when I subscribed.  I
dont like the way its going now.  I'm going to UNSUBSCRIBE!"

My response:

"uhm, okay.  Am I supposed to be offended or worried or something?"

> I.e. ultimately, on its own, this change _will_ increase your workload.
> I cannot currently guess how this change may fit in with other
> adjustments you've made, but I do know that you're now not only
> mis-interpreting the cause of your headaches, but you are also
> mis-interpreting the results you've seen to date.

I must just be a clueless drooling fucking moron then, eh?  

> Please do not ever adjust maximal_queue_lifetime below 4 days on any
> production mail server on the public Internet.

OH MY GOD.  IM SUCH A BAD MAN!  IM DOING IT *ALL WRONG*!  IM *NOT FOLLOWING
INSTRUCTIONS*!!!!  HAUL ME AWAY!

I must not have the SLIGHTEST IDEA of what I'm doing!  I guess the past 
5+ years spent administrating UNIX systems and mail servers have been
in vain!  I'll just throw away all my computers and go live in a shack
in the woods now.

Bill

-- 
Bill Bradford
mrbill at mrbill.net
Austin, TX