Look how old this is! I post at SearchCommander.com now, and this post was published 18 years 9 months 23 days ago. This industry changes FAST, so blindly following the advice here *may not* be a good idea! If you're at all unsure, feel free to hit me up on Twitter and ask.
I got a text message saying Spamcop got a report that our mail server IP address was sending spam. After checking my mail 1/2 hour later, I determined that it was a flook, and surely Spamcop wouldn’t blacklist me.
so I sat down and banged out about 4 email replies and a couple of new ones and hit “send and receive”…
Here’s what I got back for nearly every one (I added the x’s)
209.237.x.x does not like recipient.
Remote host said: 554 Service unavailable; Client host [209.237.x.x] blocked using bl.spamcop.net; Blocked – see http://www.spamcop.net/bl.shtml?209.237.x.x
Giving up on 209.237.x.x
That means that one of the nations largest Spam services got one single complaint, and blacklisted my entire domain’s ability to send mail. What gives them that authority on an unsubstantiated claim? We did, with the CAN-Spam act and other public outcry over SPAM.
Fortunately, it took all of 60 seconds for us to swap around some IP addesses, but what would you do if this happenned to your company domain name? In a best case scenario, there are no other complaints and your mail comes back the next day, a full 8 hours later. In a worst case scenario there’s more than one complaint, and you would continue to be unable to send mail to over 1/3 of the world?
How can you protect yourself? By using email marketing programs like Cooler Email for small companies, or Clickz for large ones. Also, complying with the CAN- Spam Act of 2003 is something everyone should do. Here’s a great primer I found on spam compliance.
***update 2/8/2006
I woke up this morning and AOL has blocked our mail server again. Someone that hosts their website with PDXTC is sending bulk email from our mail server.
I’ve repaired the problem again by changing IP Addresses. I really don’t want to take the time to track down the offender, so please just stop it.
This also happens in shared webhosting environments, even with dedicated IP addresses, usually since the mail server is a dedicated IP while the WWW is a whole range. One bad apple makes it a pain for everybody else hosted on the same server. If you’re a minor offender, Spamcop releases their block after 24-48 hours in most cases.
You’re absolutely right Jacob. Although at PDXTC we manage about 160 domains, and many are on dedicated IP addresses, the mail server is shared. That’s what creates the problem.
I’ve looked at your website, and I remember we met at the East Portland Chamber meeting.
Doing legitimate email marketing is something I wish everyone would do instead of sending out spam, and OI hope some people checkk out your site at http://www.beprivy.com
You seem to be under the mistaken illusion that spamcop.net blocks spams.
They don’t. What they do is provide spam-free email subscription accounts and a list of IP addresses which have been reported for sending spam (or have hit spam-traps – which no legitimate email is going to do). They then provide this list for mailserver admins to use as part of their overall anti-spam measures. If a mailserver admin decides to use the list to BLOCK an IP (which is explicitly NOT reccommended by spamcop) that is down to them (their server) NOT spamcop.
In fact, appearing on the spamcop list is a good “early-warning” call, as it makes you aware of a problem early – thereby enabling you to fix it before ending up on all the other lists (which are much harder to get off).
There is a lot of good information on their site to help mailserver admins to correctly configure their servers to operate in the current climate (as opposed to outdated climate that was in existence when some of the (now outdated) RFCs were written.
(Spamcop user – not admin)
Thanks Porpoise, and I do understand. When I said “…blacklisted my entire domain’s ability to send mail” I should have clarified that by adding “to any mail servers that use Spamcop for their spam control, of which there are many.”
Hi Scott,
Wow! That was a quick response 😉
I accept what you’re saying. I do tend to jump in with both feet when I come across those type of posts (those which appear to be attacking spamcop for blocking their mailserver), as it so easily gives the wrong impression to people who don’t understand the underlying complexities and they end up shooting at spamcop with guns ablazin’.
Cheers,
Steve
Nope, you’re right. It’s not Spamcop that’s to blame… Thank for the interest!