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SMTP Recipient Address Pitfalls — Jul 10, 2026

Valid addresses on MXroute relay (mail.germainebrown.com:2525)

Address Works? Notes
g@germainebrown.com 250 Accepted Germaine's real inbox
germaine@germainebrown.com 550 No such recipient Does not exist on MXroute
anita@anitabrown.co 250 Accepted External domain, relays fine
g@iamgmb.com 550 No such recipient Not hosted on MXroute
germaine@itpropartner.com 550 No such recipient Not hosted on MXroute
shonuff@germainebrown.com (sender only) Authenticated sender, not recipient

Always verify before sending

Python snippet to test recipient validity before building the full email:

import smtplib, ssl
s = smtplib.SMTP('mail.germainebrown.com', 2525, timeout=10)
s.starttls(context=ssl.create_default_context())
s.login('shonuff@germainebrown.com', pw)
s.mail('shonuff@germainebrown.com')
code, msg = s.rcpt('g@germainebrown.com')  # test recipient
if code == 250:
    # Good to send
s.quit()

Subagent Email Fabrication Lesson

A subagent claimed to have sent an email. No Sent copy appeared. I accused it of fabrication. The real issue: the recipient address was wrong (550), so SMTP rejected it. The subagent probably DID try to send — it just failed silently. Since then, send-shonuff.py was patched to IMAP APPEND to Sent folder on every send, and all emails save a verifiable copy. Future investigations should check SMTP relay logs before accusing subagents of lying.