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SESK: Stuff Everyone Should Know · sesk.info/secplus-dmarc-reject-policy

In a DMARC record, which policy value says the domain owner wants failing mail rejected?

p=reject. The other values are p=none (no preference) and p=quarantine (treat as suspicious).

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  1. p=none
  2. p=quarantine
  3. p=reject ✔

Why: DMARC lets a domain owner say how receivers should handle mail that fails SPF or DKIM alignment. 'none' expresses no preference, 'quarantine' marks it suspicious, and 'reject' says the failure clearly means the domain is being misused.

Huh, didn't know that: In May 2026, RFC 9989 made DMARC an IETF Standards Track protocol, replacing informational RFC 7489.

The dad joke
DMARC p=reject is my favorite policy. It's the only one that says no to spam and means it.
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References

Answer: p=reject. DMARC lets a domain owner say how receivers should handle mail that fails SPF or DKIM alignment. 'none' expresses no preference, 'quarantine' marks it suspicious, and 'reject' says the failure clearly means the domain is being misused.

  1. IETF RFC 9989, Domain-Based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9989
    reject: The Domain Owner considers all such failures to be a clear indication that the use of the domain name is not valid.
    Checked 2026-10-10.
  2. IETF RFC 9989, Domain-Based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9989
    none: The Domain Owner offers no expression of preference.
    Checked 2026-10-10.
  3. IETF RFC 9989, Domain-Based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9989
    This document obsoletes RFCs 7489 and 9091.
    Checked 2026-10-10.
  4. IETF RFC 9989, Domain-Based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9989
    This is an Internet Standards Track document.
    Checked 2026-10-10.

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