Is a DMARC policy with p=none valid, and does Gmail penalize it in Postmaster Tools?

Marketer from Email Geeks explains that a DMARC policy of p=none is a perfectly valid DMARC policy, especially for domains who are just getting started with DMARC. p=none plus vigorous monitoring of your aggregate reports is the best way to audit your own authentication practices.

Email marketer from Reddit states that a DMARC policy of p=none is useful for the discovery phase. It allows you to discover who is sending as you and what percentage of your emails are authenticating without telling any receiver to reject the emails.

Email marketer from Sparkpost explains that the p=none DMARC policy tells receiving mail servers that you are only requesting reports about potential abuse of your domain. None of your email will be blocked when using this policy.

Email marketer from Stackoverflow advises that while a DMARC policy of p=none does not provide actual protection, it provides visibility and insight into email authentication practices. With monitoring and tweaking SPF/DKIM it can be used as a step to more strict polices.

Email marketer from EasyDMARC states that beginning with a DMARC policy of p=none provides valuable insights into your email ecosystem. You can see which sources are sending emails on behalf of your domain and whether they are authenticating correctly.

Email marketer from URIports shares that setting up a DMARC record with p=none is the gentlest approach. They suggest that this approach ensures emails aren't impacted, but you still receive DMARC reports, so you can see potential problems. It acts as an initial reconnaissance and ensures nothing gets blocked.

Email marketer from Postmark says that when setting up DMARC, start with p=none to collect data on your email sending sources. This ensures you don't inadvertently block legitimate email while identifying authentication issues.

Email marketer from Mailjet shares that starting with p=none is a common best practice for implementing DMARC. It allows you to monitor your email streams and identify any legitimate sources that might not be properly authenticated before you begin rejecting or quarantining emails.

Expert from WtotheWise, Laura Atkins explains that a DMARC policy of p=none does not inherently harm email deliverability. Instead, it's a method for gathering data about email authentication. By monitoring the reports generated with p=none, senders can identify any unauthorized use of their domain, allowing them to adjust their authentication practices. This information allows for a more informed decision to implement stronger DMARC policies like quarantine or reject in the future.

Expert from Spamresource.com explains that the p=none policy in DMARC doesn't directly penalize your email sending reputation or affect deliverability. Its main function is for monitoring and gathering reports, allowing you to understand how your emails are being handled without impacting mail flow. It's a necessary first step to identify legitimate sending sources and potential authentication issues before implementing stricter policies.

Documentation from DMARC.org explains that the 'none' policy allows messages that fail authentication to be delivered as usual. The domain owner requests reports on such failures. This stage is useful for gaining visibility before moving to stricter policies.

Documentation from Microsoft advises that during initial DMARC deployment, using p=none is best practice to assess authentication status and identify potential issues without disrupting mail flow. Aggregated reports provide necessary insight to correctly configure SPF and DKIM.

Documentation from Google explains that setting p=none allows you to receive reports about email authentication results without rejecting or quarantining any emails. This is useful for monitoring your email streams and identifying potential authentication issues before enforcing stricter policies.