Precedence header
A non-standard header field with values such as bulk, list or junk, long used to mark mass mail so that automatic responders stay quiet.
What it means
Precedence was never standardised. RFC 3834 notes that its use and interpretation vary widely and recommends no particular behaviour for it, while allowing a responder to stay silent when it sees Precedence: list, and its example vacation program skips messages marked list, junk or bulk.
The standard ways to mark such mail are the Auto-Submitted field for automatic messages and List- fields for list mail. Neither Google's nor Yahoo's published sender requirements mention Precedence. Adding Precedence: bulk can still reduce replies from older responders that check it.
Example
Precedence: bulkRelated terms
Sources
What this definition rests on. The wording is ours; the facts are theirs.
- RFC 3834: Recommendations for Automatic Responses to Electronic Mailrfc-editor.org
- Google, Gmail Help: Email sender guidelinessupport.google.com
- Yahoo Sender Hub: Sender best practicessenders.yahooinc.com
All 432 terms in the glossaryThe wiki: blocklists and bounce codes