Flood Patterns verifiedimportantWritten by the Hub
"When a receiver answers like this, hold back for a while" — a temporary throttle triggered by a response.
In detail
A flood pattern matches the text of an SMTP reply and, when it matches, applies a reduced set of limits for a stated number of seconds, optionally pausing the connection first. The form carries the whole throttle set plus the pattern, its match type, the pause and the duration. It is the mechanism for "they are rate-limiting us right now": automatic, temporary, and reverting by itself. Response patterns are the other half of the pair — they act on the message and the queue; this acts on the rate.