>SPF/DKIM is really about mail server reputation. So it mostly benefits larger servers like the ones run by Google, Microsoft and Yahoo. Unfortunately, that means that attempts by those larger providers to combat span using such reputation will naturally hurt smaller providers. So the actual effects of SPF/DKIM are on the whole negative.
That paragraph is incorrect. SPF/DKIM is not about reputation. The main purpose is preventing domain impersonation from unauthorized senders. E.g. mail servers will reject fake emails from "upofadown@microsoft.com" because you don't control any email servers that's whitelisted in microsoft.com DNS TXT records.
E.g. I was able to register a brand new .com address and then successfully send to gmail and MS Outlook accounts within minutes because I had proper SPF/DKIM in the DNS records for that new domain. That new domain had zero reputation and yet Gmail accepted it because SPF/DKIM was configured correctly -- and -- the underlying ip address of the server it came from had a good reputation.
If SPF/DKIM was truly about "reputation", it would mean I'd have to wait days or months for reputation history to build up before Gmail accepted it.
preventing impersonation is an important part on correctly attributing reputation to source domains.
Exactly. The people bashing SPF & DKIM don't seem to understand their intended purpose.
And it will mysteriously _stop_ being able to send mail to Google despite you doing everything right, because of whatever nonsense they use to determine reputation.
I am curious as to your experience with this.
Over the years, I have administered a few dozen small to medium domains (depending on the domain 10s to 10,000s emails per month) and the only thing that has ever affected delivery is the reputation of the sending IP address of the mail server (and ensuring DKIM/SPF alignment in more recent years).