Error: 'Suspicious Subject', ListProc
This is not a problem, but rather the 'solution.' It would be a problem if ListProc did not screen these messages out and instead distributed them to the list.
There can be several different situations that give rise to the "suspicious subject" situation. The most common cases are where a "vacation" program is sending automatic replies to your list saying that that user is on vacation or out of the office.
When one of these auto-replies comes to the list, Listproc will catch on phrases such as "OUT OF OFFICE","OUT OF TOWN", "ON VACATION", etc. Assuming this is an auto-reply from a vacation program, the listprocessor rejects the message, informing the owners that it was rejected due to its "suspicious subject".
Another common case that causes "suspicious subject" errors are when "confirmation" messages are sent to your list.
Some email programs have the capability to send back a notice confirming that a message has been received, or read. ListProc sees words like "RCPT," "RECEIPT," or "CONFIRMATION" in the subject line, and 'suspects' that such messages should not be distributed to the list. If such messages were not screened out by ListProc, multiple endless email loops would quickly develop.
As list owner you get administrative messages in cases like this. It may seem a nuisance, but sometimes a legitimate posting might get screened out in error and you might want to know and get them distributed.
Not much can be done to reduce the flow of warnings you get about confirmation messages. But you could ask the subscribers who are generating the confirmations if their email program can be configured not to send back any confirmations to email messages from the list.
The following is a list of words the list server looks for (tab characters replaced by "TAB" and some use wildcards):
DELIVERY[ TAB]+ERROR
DELIVERY[ TAB]+REPORT
DELIVERY[ TAB]+PROBLEM
WARNING[ TAB]+FROM[ TAB]+UUCP
USER[ TAB]+UNKNOWN
UNDELIVER.+[ TAB]MAIL
UNDELIVER.+[ TAB]MESSAGE
PROBLEMS.+DELIVERING.+MAIL
PROBLEMS.+DELIVERING.+MESSAGE
CAN[ TAB]*[‘NO]*T.+DELIVER.+MAIL
UNABLE.+DELIVER.+MAIL
UNABLE.+DELIVER.+MESSAGE
MAIL.+NOT.+DELIVERABLE
MESSAGE.+NOT.+DELIVERABLE
FAILED[ TAB]+MAIL
FAILED[ TAB]+MESSAGE
MAIL[ TAB]+FAILED
MAIL[ TAB]+RETURNED
RETURNED[ TAB]+MAIL
MAIL.*[ TAB]ERROR
MAIL[ TAB]+RECEIVED
MESSAGE[ TAB]+RECEIVED
MESSAGE[ TAB]+DELIVER
MAIL[ TAB]+DELIVER
INTERCEPTED[ TAB]+MAIL
WAITING[ TAB]+MAIL
READ[ TAB]+RECEIPT
RECEIPT[ TAB]+NOTIFICATION
STATUS.+SIGNAL[ TAB]+[0-9]+
^ERROR[ TAB]+CONDITION[ TAB]+RE:
^NO[ TAB]+REQUESTS[ TAB]+FOUND
AUTO[ TAB]+REPLY
AUTOMATIC[ TAB]+REPLY
AUTOMATICALLY[ TAB]+GENERATED
AUTOANSWERED
WAITING.+MAIL
ON[ TAB]+VACATION
VIA[ TAB]+VACATION
CONCIERGE[ TAB]+NOTICE
AWAY[ TAB]+FROM.+MAIL
CAN[ TAB]*[‘NO]*T.+ANSWER
CAN[ TAB]*[‘NO]*T.+REPLY
OUT[ TAB]+OF[ TAB]+TOWN
OUT[ TAB]+OF[ TAB]+OFFICE
Current Record: 250
Create Date: 12-06-1999
Last Reviewed: 05-19-2008
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