Ask for the DMARC policy, not a retired tag

Answer The DMARC policy is the p= tag. RFC 9989, published in May 2026, is the specification that says so, and it obsoletes the older RFC 7489. It also registers pct, ri, and rf as historic. A seller who shows you pct=100 has not shown you the policy. Ask what p= says.

The note that started this: RFC 9989, Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC), RFC 9989, May 2026.

Mid-month is a good time to retire a superstition. For years a DMARC record collected tags the way a dashboard collects dials. Buyers were told that a long record meant a serious sender. The current specification is narrower about which tags still mean anything. The one that tells a mailbox what to do with a failing message is p=.

RFC 9989 is Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance. It was published in May 2026. A domain publishes a TXT record. Receivers that participate look at whether the message aligned. Alignment means the domain in the From address matches the domain that passed SPF or the domain that passed DKIM, under the alignment mode the record states. If the message fails, p=none asks the receiver to deliver it anyway and, if you asked, to send you reports. p=quarantine asks the receiver to treat the failure as suspicious, which often means junk. p=reject asks the receiver not to accept it. Those three words are the policy. Everything else is detail around them.

What did RFC 9989 change for someone reading a DMARC record?

RFC 9989, published in May 2026, is the DMARC specification and it obsoletes RFC 7489. It registers the pct, ri, and rf tags as historic. The policy a mailbox is supposed to read is p=.

Historic means those tags are no longer the way to express the mechanism. A record can still contain an old pct tag because somebody pasted a tutorial from 2018. The presence of the tag is not a modern control. Do not let a seller point at pct=100, or at a reporting interval, and call the domain enforced. Enforcement is quarantine or reject. Reporting is none, plus an address that receives the reports, if they set one.

This note does not recycle anyone else's census of how many domains publish which tag. One domain is in front of you, the domain that will appear in the From line of the solo ad. Look at that record. If you buy solo ads, you are renting an hour on someone else's reputation, and the policy on that domain is part of the reputation.

• The record you read is the From domain, not a cousin they used last year.
• p= is written in the quote as none, quarantine, or reject.
• Historic tags are not described as the protection.
• Alignment is checked on a live message, not assumed from the record alone.

Does pct=100 mean the domain is protected?

No. A percentage tag is not the policy. Ask whether p= is none, quarantine, or reject. A none policy asks for reports. It does not tell a mailbox to quarantine or reject a failing message.

A none policy can be a responsible starting point. The operator wants reports before they tell the world to reject failures. It can also be a costume worn for years, a record that looks like participation and instructs nothing. You cannot tell which from the outside, except by asking what they do with the reports. A seller who does not know where the reports go has a none policy in the decorative sense.

Quarantine and reject are stricter, and they punish misalignment. That cuts both ways. A brand domain at p=reject will suffer if the solo ad is signed by a platform domain that does not align. The mail you paid for can be refused because the seller's own policy is working. That is not a mystery. It is the policy doing what it says. Ask about alignment before you applaud the strict record.

What should a solo ad buyer ask about the sending domain's DMARC record?

Ask the seller to show the p= value on the domain in the From address, and ask whether the live mail aligns with SPF or DKIM. A speech about being fully compliant is not that value.

Two facts. The tag, and a live message that passes in alignment with it. If they quote the old document number as proof, they are quoting the document this one replaced. The May specification is the one to name. The tag is still the thing to read.

Write p= next to the from-name on the order. Best solo ad vendors can show a record without turning it into a medal. None is a report request. Quarantine and reject are instructions. Pay after you know which instruction is published on the domain you are about to stand under.