On Tue, 15 Nov 2005 10:58:34 -0600, Hal Keen <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>I cannot find any Return-Path: header entry on the active probe messages
>sent to me. Also, I cannot see any on my list email, though I have checked
>enough that I should (in my test setup) have received a passive probe. I
>also cannot see any in the non-probe type of renewal notice, although when
>one of those bounces from a bad address, an error is detected.
>
>Maybe these are stripped off by my email interface (Outlook Express). But
>that seems unlikely, because I can view the full trail of Received: header
>entries, which are (according to the RFCs) in the same class (Trace) of
>header fields.

this is an example of a test message sent to and read in my outlook express
account:

>Return-Path: <owner-test*bsparker**BESTEFFORT*[log in to unmask]>
>Received: for <bsparker>
>Received: from mail.besteffort.com (127.0.0.1) by mail.besteffort.com (LSMTP for Windows NT v1.1b) with SMTP id <[log in to unmask]>; Tue, 15 Nov 2005 18:15:36 -0700
>Received: from MAIL03 ([127.0.0.1]) by mail.besteffort.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.0.2195.6713);
>	 Tue, 15 Nov 2005 18:15:36 -0700
>Received: by LISTSERV.BESTEFFORT.COM (LISTSERV-TCP/IP release 14.4) with spool
>          id 17724 for [log in to unmask]; Tue, 15 Nov 2005 18:15:36
>          -0700
>Received: from mail.besteffort.com (127.0.0.1) by mail.besteffort.com (LSMTP
>          for Windows NT v1.1b) with SMTP id <[log in to unmask]>;
>          Tue, 15 Nov 2005 18:15:35 -0700
>Received: from MAIL03 ([127.0.0.1]) by mail.besteffort.com with Microsoft
>          SMTPSVC(5.0.2195.6713); Tue, 15 Nov 2005 18:15:35 -0700
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
>              boundary="k:NCnkeNzIS?MNBTX?v9XR+hI3OgKaW:y94-G0k4,ORa7EPNR0eI8vOv9qVcE/Enudk'/F"
>X-OriginalArrivalTime: 16 Nov 2005 01:15:35.0921 (UTC)
>                       FILETIME=[3F875E10:01C5EA4B]
>Message-ID:  <[log in to unmask]>
>Date:         Tue, 15 Nov 2005 18:15:35 -0700
>Reply-To:     Test list <[log in to unmask]>
>Sender:       Test list <[log in to unmask]>
>From:         Ben Parker <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: [TEST] message #5
>To:           [log in to unmask]


As you can see there is a Return-Path: header

To see these headers, select or click on the message in the message list
pane of OE.  Then there are 3 ways to see the message properties.  
 1. File | Properties 
 2. ALT + Enter  (shortcut key)
 3. Right-click on seleted message in list, then click on Properties

Any of the above will open up a message details window showing
author/sender, date/time sent and received, size, etc. on the 'General' tab.
Click on the 'Details' tab to see the message headers.

If you still don't see a Return-Path: header line (usually but not always
first) then something else before your mail client is removing that header
which is a very bad thing, and in itself a violation of RFC821.

>You describe known problems with messages coming back via the probe's
>Return-Path: address. 

I said it is known that some mail systems do not like the '*' chars in the
'Probe-Style' Return-Path.

>Are there known problems affecting that field outbound? 

Not that I know of, but it seems more and more mail system admins these days
seem to know less about mail standards than they should.  It is certainly
possible for this to occur.  

Especially likely culprits going in or out are anti-virus inspection
programs or 3rd party services that may modify the headers. :-(

>It's possible our site administrator needs to deal with this, but
>unless I can recite chapter and verse when I report a problem, those guys
>are amazingly unhelpful.
>
>Is there any passive probing on THIS list (LSTOWN-L)? Maybe scanning
>received messages from a different server will be helpful.

Yes, but not all addresses are sent this way at all times.  They are
randomly dispersed among various recipients in regular list messages such
that approx. 10% of the list may get probed each day, so it takes at least
10 days for all addresses to be probed, longer if there is a day or 2 of no
postings to the list.  So finding which message to you contained this form
of probe would take a lot of searching.