Abuse and postmaster have to exist

Answer abuse and postmaster should exist on a domain that sends mail, and they should reach a person who handles that role. RFC 2142 reserves those names for the functions. Before you pay for a solo ad, ask whether the mailboxes are real. A role address that bounces, or that publishes a refusal to accept mail, is a costume.

The note that started this: RFC 2142, Mailbox Names for Common Services, Roles and Functions, RFC 2142.

The public doors are old on purpose. Long before a ticketing portal, operators agreed that certain local parts mean certain jobs. You can guess postmaster at a domain you have never hired and have a reasonable hope that a mail administrator sees it. You can write to abuse and have a reasonable hope that someone who deals with complaints sees it. A sending domain that breaks that hope has opted out of the oldest feedback channel there is. Safe solo ads sellers keep the doors open.

The specification lists more names than these two. The two that matter on a solo order are the mail one and the complaint one. postmaster is how another operator reaches the people who run the system. abuse is how a recipient, or their provider, reports mail they did not want. If you are about to rent a send on a domain, those are the addresses that will hear about you after you are gone. You want them staffed while you are still holding the invoice.

What are abuse and postmaster for?

RFC 2142 reserves those mailbox names for the functions in the title. postmaster is for mail system issues. abuse is for reports of unwanted mail. Both should reach someone who handles the role.

Reserved means the names are not cute brand addresses. Do not use abuse@ as a lead magnet. Do not forward postmaster into a black hole because the folder got noisy. Noise is the job. A folder that is noisy with complaints is a folder that is telling you the truth about the domain. A folder that is empty because the address does not resolve is a folder you can show to a buyer as peace. Peace, in that case, is deafness.

A person has to be on the other end. An autoresponder that says this mailbox is not monitored is a confession. The specification's point is that mail to the role gets to the function. A ticket link that only works if you already have an account is not a substitute for the mailbox. Providers and strangers will use the mailbox. Be there.

• abuse at the sending domain accepts mail.
• postmaster at the sending domain accepts mail.
• A person is named, internally, as the reader.
• The addresses are not used as marketing from-lines.

Why do those mailboxes matter before you buy a solo ad?

Complaints and delivery problems need a destination. If abuse or postmaster on the sending domain does not accept mail, you have no public door. Ask for a live door before you pay.

You already asked, earlier this month, whether a null MX had shut the domain to mail entirely. Role mailboxes are the next check. A domain can accept mail in general and still blackhole the two names that matter. The website looks finished. The brand from-address works because a platform handles it. abuse@ falls on the floor. When a provider tries to warn the domain about a problem, the warning dies. You will experience that death as a sudden block and a seller who says they were never told.

Ask in the quote. Write the addresses. If the seller says complaints go through the platform dashboard only, ask what happens to mail sent to the domain itself. Dashboard tools are useful and private. The reserved names are public. A public sender needs the public door. A solo ad is public the moment it arrives in a stranger's inbox, which is the product.

What is a fair test of a role mailbox?

Send a short, plain message to abuse at the sending domain and see whether it is accepted and whether a person answers. A bounce, or a null route, is a failed test.

Keep the test boring. One sentence, your name, a request for a human reply. Do not stuff it with links. Do not send it fifty times. You are checking a door, not stress-testing a server. A reply within a reasonable working period is a pass. Silence after an acceptance is a weaker pass. You may still want to know who reads the folder. A bounce is a fail. Do not talk yourself into a domain that cannot hear abuse.

RFC 2142 is a short, old, practical document. The practice has not become optional because dashboards got prettier. If you send mail, the role boxes exist and a human is behind them. Check that on July 24, before the wire, not after the complaint has nowhere to land.