What th'?: "This message may not have been sent by"

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

The Google Support website has an entry on this topic. Note that the
mailing list messages you receive are actually from the mailing list
server machine and not directly from the individuals named in the
"From" field.

Entry: "This message may not have been sent by..." warning

https://support.google.com/mail/troubleshooter/2411000?hl=en

[Begin excerpt]
You'll see this warning if a sender is claiming to be from Gmail, but
we couldn't confirm the email originated from a Gmail sender. For
example, you might receive an email claiming to be from
support at gmail.com that wasn’t actually sent from a Gmail account. All
mail sent from Gmail should have authentication data in the message
that can verify it was sent through Gmail. If you see a warning
message indicating that a message may not have been sent by a Gmail
user, this means that the authentication data is missing and Gmail
displays the warning for your protection.

The missing data can indicate one of the following:

    The message was forged and not really sent by the sender’s stated
Gmail address

    The sender emailed it through a website (for example, a website
sharing a news article with you)

    The message was sent by Gmail, but the authentication information
was lost (for example, if you auto-forward all messages from your
school email address to your personal Gmail address)

If the email wasn't sent with Gmail, but the sender includes
authentication data in the message, we'll show you the sender's name
and the service that authenticated the message. For example, if
sender at gmail.com sent you a card from a website called ecard.com,
you'd see the sender listed as "sender at gmail.com via ecard.com.”

[End excerpt]

Garson

On Wed, Apr 23, 2014 at 12:32 PM, Jesse Sheidlower <jester at panix.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jesse Sheidlower <jester at PANIX.COM>
> Subject:      Re: What th'?: "This message may not have been sent by"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> For what it's worth, there is no evidence of unusual or unexpected
> activity in the ADS-L error logs.
>
> Jesse Sheidlower
> ADS-L
>
> On Wed, Apr 23, 2014 at 04:20:10PM +0000, Baker, John wrote:
>> This warning was added by Gmail and is an indicator that it considers the messages you receive not to be properly authenticated.  Are they only ADS-L messages?  Are other list members who use Gmail also receiving this warning?  If so, then there is a problem at listserv.uga.edu.
>>
>>
>> John Baker
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Jonathan Lighter
>> Sent: Wednesday, April 23, 2014 11:54 AM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject: What th'?: "This message may not have been sent by"
>>
>> Every message I've received today, including from myself, bears this
>> warning.
>>
>> Any idea why?  Gmail Help is no help. (My own messages were sent the usual
>> way rather than from any odd website.)
>>
>> JL
>>
>> --
>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org