Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!aplcen!samsung!usc!henry.jpl.nasa.gov!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!gryphon!vector!telecom-gateway From: ckd%bu-pub.BU.EDU@bu-it.bu.edu (Christopher K Davis) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: The Use and Abuse of UUNET (was ATTMAIL Access?) Message-ID: Date: 18 Nov 89 11:56:39 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Lines: 34 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 521, message 2 of 10 >>>>> On 17 Nov 89 20:53:42 GMT, dmr@csli.stanford.edu (Daniel M. >>>>> Rosenberg) said: Daniel> X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 518, message 2 of 11 Daniel> I'd expect you could bounce this off of uunet: e.g., attmail!wcseal@ Daniel> uunet.uu.net. Daniel> So, with that answer, I have a question: just who the heck is UUNET Daniel> and why do they let us bounce all our mail off of them? DISCLAIMERS: This is from memory. I have no affiliation with UUNET. UUNET is a not-for-profit company that supplies forwarding service for UUCP mail and news to their customers. As part of that, they have hellishly well-maintained mailers, and can often get through when you (generic, plural you) can't. This has led many people to use them as the "smart bomb" of mail routing problems. Unfortunately, this costs them. And, more than once, they've been tempted to just start bouncing anything that's not for one of their customers (the same way AT&T does, which is why Daniel suggested using UUNET in the first place [!]). Basically, they let us bounce mail off of them because it hasn't cost them "too much" yet. May I make a plea to all TELECOM Digest (and comp.dcom.telecom) readers not to use UUNET as the "magic solution" -- but to do a bit of research and get the approved mail-exchangers or mail paths? Hint: Either use nslookup or mail to the SH.CS.NET info-server to get the proper Internet MX records. I'm willing to help folks try to iron out mail problems if it'll take some load off UUNET. [Responses to me, please--this has gone fairly far out of the TELECOM topic. --ckd]