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Is there a specific reason why some records contain the '+' sign and others do not? Are these handled similar to a common search function where you can preface terms with + to include them, but it's usually redundant because they are included by default?

v=spf1 +a +mx +ip4:000.00.00.000 ~all

v=spf1 a mx ptr include:domain.com ~all

Jenny D
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user1145643
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    Did you do *any* research on your own before posting here? Like maybe looking at [the OpenSPF record specification](http://www.openspf.org/SPF_Record_Syntax), which answers your question in the very first page? – MadHatter Nov 26 '14 at 14:10

1 Answers1

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Those DNS TXT records are so-called SPF records, SPF being an email sender verification protocol known as Sender Policy Framework.

Each validation mechanism in SPF is (optionally) prefixed with one of the following qualifiers, indicating how a match on an inbound message should be treated:

  • +: Pass
  • -: Fail
  • ~: SoftFail
  • ?: Neutral

The default qualifier is always +, but some people like to be explicit.

Thus +a and a will be treated as exactly the same

Mathias R. Jessen
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