Appropriate use of domain name as reputation identifier

[dfs@…]

Date: Sun, 13 Nov 2011 11:07:49 +0800
From: Peter Saint-Andre <stpeter@…>
To: David F. Skoll <dfs@…>
CC: domainrep@…

On 11/13/11 10:44 AM, David F. Skoll wrote:

Just a question that may seem strange or naive at this stage, but:

Who decided that a domain name is an appropriate identity for reputation
with respect to email?

s/identity/identifier/

I don't consider a domain name very useful for that purpose. It's
certainly far less useful than the sending SMTP relay's IP address.

Now it's true that certain very specific cases (for example, a
paypal.com message with an SPF "pass") are strongly correlated with
valid email, but outside of those cases or recipient-specific cases
[eg, the vendors and customers *I* deal with], I don't believe the
sending domain is a useful indicator of valid or invalid email and
hence isn't a useful identity for reputation purposes.

As you point out, a domain name can be an appropriate identifier. It
would be helpful to clarify when it is and is not appropriate.