Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!psuvax1!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!mp.cs.niu.edu!rickert
From: rickert@mp.cs.niu.edu (Neil Rickert)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.misc
Subject: Re: automatic ack
Message-ID: <1991Feb25.051830.27652@mp.cs.niu.edu>
Date: 25 Feb 91 05:18:30 GMT
References: <1991Feb14.183738.19966@ecf.utoronto.ca> <1991Feb16.134117.16879@ora.com> <106@apexepa.UUCP>
Distribution: usa
Organization: Northern Illinois University
Lines: 25

In article <106@apexepa.UUCP> gary@apexepa.UUCP (Gary Wisniewski) writes:
>
>I use a rather odious hack when I need to do this.  If I send mail to
>stefano@ecf.toronto.edu, I include a "Bcc: bogus_receipt@ecf.toronto.edu"
>so that the mailer daemon on ecf sends me notification of arrival in
>the form of a unknown user message.

 This may not work the way you intend.  If the final leg of transmission is
with an SMTP connection, the error message is likely to be generated at the
penultimate site before the message has reached the destination site.

 Basically, the mailbox is usually verified in the RCPT exchange before the
message is transmitted.  If there is an error reported, the sending mailer
will report the 'unknown user'.  For all you know, the unknown user message
might have tripped a bug which prevented the mail from going thru.

 Better to use Return-Receipt-To:

 Best is to ask the real recipient to produce an acknowledgement manually.

-- 
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  Neil W. Rickert, Computer Science               <rickert@cs.niu.edu>
  Northern Illinois Univ.
  DeKalb, IL 60115                                   +1-815-753-6940