After self-hosting my email for twenty-three years I have thrown in the towel (cfenollosa.com)

Article summary

The author has given up on self-hosting their email after 23 years due to deliverability issues caused by big email providers' blacklisting and hellbanning practices. The author argues that these practices stifle competition and are unfair to small email servers. The article proposes changes to blacklisting protocols and suggests that the industry should self-regulate to prevent external regulation. The author believes that the current system is anti-competitive and discriminates against small email servers.

Main themes

• email self-hosting
• deliverability issues
• big tech firms' practices
• spam and blacklisting
• regulation and oversight
• smarthosting and email setup

What commenters say

• Self-hosting email is not viable due to deliverability issues caused by big email providers' practices.
• The underlying problem of spam is a symptom of a deeper issue, such as the ease of scaling spam campaigns.
• Solving deliverability problems can be achieved by smarthosting through a reputable email provider, but this may not be considered true self-hosting.
• The big tech firms' practices are seen as lazy and dishonest, using spam as a scapegoat to stifle competition.
• Some commenters disagree, citing their own successful experiences with self-hosting email and arguing that deliverability issues can be solved with the right setup.
• The proposal to change blacklisting protocols and implement exponential cooldown penalties is seen as a potential solution to the problem.
• Others argue that the issue is not with self-hosting email, but with the lack of regulation and oversight in the email industry.
• The use of smarthosting as a solution is debated, with some seeing it as a viable option and others arguing that it is not a true form of self-hosting.