I swear I'm not a spammer - will you please deliver my mail?

March 17, 2007 4:23 PM

Due to a mail server that was not properly mailed down, about a year ago, some spam was sent through my mail servers. That's fixed but I still seem to be on the blacklist. What can I do?

I can't send mail through my mail server to (at least) aol and hotmail, perhaps others I don't know about. From AOL I get a nondescript unable-to-deliver message. From hotmail I get nothing back, but the emails don't get received.

Who do I talk to to get this fixed? Are they likely to believe my story, or give a crap?

I also suppose it's possible that this isn't the reason, that there is some other cause for this. If anyone has a hotmail or aol address, and also another address, maybe you can help me out - I'll send an email to both your hotmail/aol and your "other" address, and see if you get both.

posted by RustyBrooks to computers & internet (11 comments total)

and uh, I mean not properly "nailed down". Oops.
posted by RustyBrooks at 4:23 PM on March 17, 2007

Email sent.
posted by DMan at 5:12 PM on March 17, 2007

Are you the admin of the server? If so, there are a series of things you can do to try and show places like hotmail and yahoo that you are legit and not a spammer. They aren't guaranteed, but its one thing to start with. Take a look at domainkeys and SPF. And of course make sure your SMTP server is not an open relay and is fully up to date with all patches, to prevent any issues in the future.

You can try emailing the various admins to get off the blacklist - but unless you take some proactive action to try and show your innocence, its unlikely to help.

Sorry there isn't an easier way, but once a server gets flagged as a spammer its very hard to get off the blacklist.
posted by rsanheim at 6:14 PM on March 17, 2007

I am the admin of the server, yes. The server is no longer an open relay (due to a bad access line in the file, it was for a while).

I guess it might just be easiest to change the IP address of my server. I have some spare ones, even some ones in other blocks.
posted by RustyBrooks at 6:17 PM on March 17, 2007

I sent an email to both of your addresses, dman. If you get neither I might have to add gmail to the list of people I've pissed off.

How do I get in contact with the right person at aol or hotmail? I've been going through their websites trying to find someone and I'm not having a lot of luck.
posted by RustyBrooks at 6:24 PM on March 17, 2007

Which blacklists are you on? That will greatly affect how easy it will be to get your server off. (AOL and Hotmail probably have their own, as they are big hosts, but they may also use third party blacklists.) If you don't know, check here. If you decide to change IPs for the server, try the IP addresses you might change to using that tool, to make sure you don't start off on anyone's blacklist.
posted by kindall at 6:26 PM on March 17, 2007

And I figured it out. Somehow my isp lost my reverse dns info. Hotmail and aol both deny emails that don't have reverse dns records. I set my reverse dns, hopefully that will help.
posted by RustyBrooks at 6:54 PM on March 17, 2007

Oh, and I checked... I am not on any of those blacklists.
posted by RustyBrooks at 6:55 PM on March 17, 2007

I got your email in my Gmail box, but not in the Hotmail one.

If you want to try it again now that you've set the reverse DNS, feel free.
posted by DMan at 7:19 PM on March 17, 2007

"From AOL I get a nondescript unable-to-deliver message."

postmaster.aol.com

give them a call and see if they'll remove the block. They're actually decent folks.

And fuck SPF.
posted by drstein at 9:22 PM on March 18, 2007

After getting my reverse DNS back I can send to aol again but not to hotmail. Very annoying since my wife insists on using hotmail.
posted by RustyBrooks at 7:21 AM on March 19, 2007