A blocklist did not answer, so it is not counted as clean
What this check looks for
‹list name› ‹outcome› for ‹address›. That is not evidence you are clean — it means we do not know, and the result above is scoped to the lists that did answer.
Why it matters
A blocklist that times out looks exactly like one that says 'not listed' unless the two are deliberately kept apart. Telling you that you are clear on a list we never heard from would be the most damaging thing this check could do.
What it costs your score
This check never deducts. It reports a fact — or reports that something could not be verified — and is shown on the report without moving the score.
- Severity
- info
- Default confidence
- confirmed
- Status when triggered
- info
- Deduction
- 0 points
- Family cap
- none
- Category
- Email reputation
- Module
- Email blocklists
- Fix owned by
- third party
- In the ruleset since
- 2026.09
Technical detail
The query for ‹address› against ‹list name› produced no usable answer: ‹reason›. RFC 5782 §2.1 specifies NXDOMAIN for an unlisted address, so only NXDOMAIN — or a listing code — is treated as an answer. Timeouts, SERVFAIL, refusals for an unregistered querier and answers outside 127.0.0.0/8 are all counted as 'did not answer'.
Standards and references
Test this on your domain
Run the check that produces this finding, on its own, against any domain.