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0 pointssimmons6y ago0 comments

Contrary to popular opinion, I don't think the technical aspects of operating a mail server are all that hard. Perhaps I'm underestimating the learning curve since I've been doing it for 27 years. (If you're running your own mail server, you are the sysadmin.)

The frustration comes with scenarios such as the one outlined in this blog post, where small mail server operators get bullied even though they are doing everything right. I can completely understand not wanting to operate a mail server due to this situation, or not having interest in leveling-up server administration skills.

For those of us who do have expertise in running mail servers, it's a shame we have to deal with these obstacles.

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calvinmorrison6y ago

The biggest obstacle of course is dealing with deliverability problems. As most posters have commented here, getting people to accept your mail, and accepting mail from reputable sources isn't an easy problem to solve. At FastMail, a considerable amount of time is spent ensuring customers don't need to worry about deliverability problems or spammy inboxes.

To me, that's the biggest reason not to spend time running your own infrastructure for mail. Getting people to accept your mail reliably, is much harder than adjusting some postfix configuration.

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0 pointssimmons6y ago0 comments

For those of us who do have expertise in running mail servers, it's a shame we have to deal with these obstacles.

0 comments

calvinmorrison6y ago

To me, that's the biggest reason not to spend time running your own infrastructure for mail. Getting people to accept your mail reliably, is much harder than adjusting some postfix configuration.

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