Look, I get it that many people have been burnt. In particular for marketing e-mails or services that rely on hundreds of e-mails an hour. But "Don't try with a random IP that server vendors give you for $5/mo, which can never look too clean." is far too much of a general statement as I know a fair share of people that have done exactly that and are getting their e-mails delivered and not silently dropped by lying SMTPDs from the big players.
Admittedly, my "random IP" (and box) with Hetzner comes with a cost of seven or so times per month compared to what you write. But I find it tiresome that we pretty much end up with two camps in every single e-mail thread. One that claims that self-hosting e-mail is dead and impossible in year $X and one that claims that it is not. Stating either of these absolutes is unhelpful as e-mail in year $X requires a lot of nuance.
I should end my comment by stating that I am not attempting to call you out as the worst offender and I appreciate you mentioning delivery services. Until Google started enforcing SPF or DKIM I had a nice working setup where I used a well-established, non-profit SMTP as my outgoing relay as I was scared to bits after reading so many comments about e-mail horrors on HN.
Admittedly, my "random IP" (and box) with Hetzner comes with a cost of seven or so times per month compared to what you write. But I find it tiresome that we pretty much end up with two camps in every single e-mail thread. One that claims that self-hosting e-mail is dead and impossible in year $X and one that claims that it is not. Stating either of these absolutes is unhelpful as e-mail in year $X requires a lot of nuance.
I should end my comment by stating that I am not attempting to call you out as the worst offender and I appreciate you mentioning delivery services. Until Google started enforcing SPF or DKIM I had a nice working setup where I used a well-established, non-profit SMTP as my outgoing relay as I was scared to bits after reading so many comments about e-mail horrors on HN.