[Hidden-tech] Ongoing problems with email being tagged as spam

[Rich Roth]

Bruce,
I think you are closer but still missing a key point -- outgoing STMP servers are rarely
the same machines that handle website -- for many reasons,
since you still have not posted any specifics we can't be sure - there is clearly both
smtp and http at 216.67.248.40
Googling that IP does some web sites there - see http://www.websitevalue.us/ip/216.67.248.40
However still the point is that an RBL on an IP does not effect the web site. only email.

Moving beyond that case there are a number of reasons a server gets marked as a spam producer:

1) Generic type of IP: this means it is a IP assigned to a dynamic use: like cable or a
virtual hosting
2) Suspicious content: subjects with lots of !!!! or random text with attached small
images (the real message is in the image)
3) Complaints from email recipients -- which might be true or incorrect - people have
short memories for what they subscribe to, or are lazy in saying they don't want it any more

Note: That all 3 will produce a RBL blocked listing and that will block all email coming
from the server -- so it might not be your issue at all,
the reaction from the ISP does indicate that might be the cast.

It looks like your issue is how to send email using that nonprofit.org and not the hosting
-- you might want to find a hosting that will provide
the smtp only - and not use the same smtp as other people.  We use hosted email from
opensrs.com that seems to work pretty well
and only charged $.50/per email/month -- see http://opensrs.com/site/services/email for
the specs

disclaimer: we are a reseller for that service, but so are many other people around, we do
not provide general services so I can't offer
to help beyond this suggestion -- I am sure others on the list will make such suggestions.

Rich

On 10/31/2011 11:19 PM, Bruce Hooke wrote:
> Thanks Rich. Sorry, I should have made it clear that the email is going out via the
> hosting company's SMTP. So, this is their issue. They responded to my ticket and said
> that it was IP address 216.67.248.40 and that it was blacklisted on spamhaus. They have
> taken the steps to deal with the immediate issue (as I expected they would). I have also
> done some testing to confirm that it is not just an issue with this particular website.
> I am having the same problems with other websites on this same server.
>  
> So, it is back to the underlying issue, and my real question, which is why this same
> issue seems to crop up every few months and what to do about it. From the sounds of what
> Charlie said, it seems like this is a common issue whenever a lot of website share a
> server.
>  
> Thanks again,
> Bruce
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* Rich Roth [mailto:rich at on-the-net.com]
> *Sent:* Monday, October 31, 2011 3:06 PM
> *To:* Bruce Hooke
> *Cc:* hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net
> *Subject:* Re: [Hidden-tech] Ongoing problems with email being tagged as spam
>
> There is a missing piece of this issue:
>        how is the outgoing mail being sent ?
>
> The web site has nothing to do with email being marked as spam and neither does the
> hosting company,
> if the email is not going out via the smtp at the hosting company.
>
> It's the outgoing smtp server used by the senders of email that cause the issue,
> and the nature of the content -- using collected lists can be a very bad idea.
>
> It might be useful to give us both the IP being blocked and the web site in question,
> you should also look to find exactly what service is black-listing the IP
> Barracuda devices (like all other spam services) can share many (RBL) black-listing
> providers
> although they also have their own at: http://www.barracudacentral.org/rbl
>
> You mention constant contact -- they go to great lengths to keep their mailings and
> servers from becoming spam marked
>
> Also if you are using an ISP that has virtual machines, and the email is going out via
> those, then be aware that those use floating IPs
> internally and routinely get marked as spam - just like an IP owned by cable company --
> there are special measures that need
> to be taking to send email from Amazon cloud servers for example.
>
> In short, it looks like you are looking in the wrong place - track the path of the
> outgoing email, not the websites.
>
> We run servers that send 100K or so emails a day and it takes serious work to keep them
> from being blocked,
> this is usually handled by using a service like constant contact -- so I think something
> else is happening.
>
> Rich
>
> On 10/31/2011 12:54 PM, Bruce Hooke wrote:
>>  
>> Hello,
>>
>> I maintain the website for a non-profit watershed group and they have been having
>> repeated problems with their email getting tagged as spam by systems such as Barracuda.
>> This causes a lot of headaches for both them and me. The site is hosted on Arvixe, a
>> major hosting company with the usual server farm with lots of websites on it. However,
>> while I have multiple websites hosted with Arivxe this one is the only one that regular
>> seems to run into this problem. Meanwhile, when I check Barracuda it appears that the
>> IP address (which presumably covers multiple websites) is what is getting blocked, not
>> the domain name. So, I am trying to sort out:
>>
>> 1. Does this issue originate with something the non-profit in question is doing (they
>> do use Constant Contact but so do other groups I work with) or is this a problem with
>> the server the site is hosted on.
>>
>> 2. If it is something they are doing, how do we figure out what?
>>
>> 2. If it is a problem with the server, what do we need to do to stop this from happening:
>>
>>         a. Would getting our own IP address help?
>>         b. Or would paying for our own server help?
>>         c. Or do we need to go with a more local, hands-on host. When I priced this out
>> I was getting prices that were on the order of 15 or more times higher than what we are
>> paying now, which for a small non-profit is a real budget issue.
>>
>> I already tried moving them to a new hosting company (previously they were with another
>> big hosting company) and that did not fix the problem.
>>
>> Any insights would be greatly appreciated.
>>
>> I can work with Arvixe to get the immediate issue fixed but I don't really trust them
>> when it comes to being up-front about the origins of the problem since they do not seem
>> to be likely to say "yes, it is a problem with other websites on our server" or
>> something similar.
>>
>> Thanks!
>> Bruce Hooke
>>
>

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