Today, while posting a comment on a blog, I got the following message.
your_ip_is_blacklisted_by list.dsbl.org
Checking my IP address against that database and yes, I am listed as an open relay. Clearly, I'm technical and smart enough not to run an open relay, so I figured this had something TODO with R|mail, which runs in my basement, same IP address. I looked deeper into my record and the problem became clear. Last Friday, my router fried. This caused me to take actions that caused my IP address to change. Somebody obviously had this IP address before me, who ran on open relay. This is one reason, I really hate filters that guess pro-actively for SPAM. False negatives, means frustrated users who are likely not going to return to your blog.
