I like the idea of ignoring AOL problems. Just tell the users that complain to contact AOL, then when enough AOL customers complain, they may get the picture.
Todd -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of John Tolmachoff Sent: Monday, November 19, 2001 8:35 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: [IMail Forum] precedence:bulk header (AOL) What is really interesting, is if I go to postmaster.info.aol.com and type in my mail server address, it comes back it is on the list. But when I type in the IP address requesting testing and an auto reply, I never get one. I spent about 15 hours on the phone with someone in their "postmaster" department about 4 months ago to clear a problem. I no longer have that dropped mail problem, but am still listed in their database for no reason. When I here of a client having email problems to an AOL account, I sigh and say, "I sorry, would you like their phone number? You will have to contact them to resolve the issue." I think it would help if all of us, when we hear of a problem with AOL, we just ignore it. If all other mail admins started to ignore AOL problems, maybe they would get the hint. (On second thought, I doubt it. They think they are the only smart people out there.) John Tolmachoff, Network Engineer 211 E. Imperial Hwy., Suite 106 Fullerton, CA� 92835 714-578-7999, ext. 104 [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.reliancesoft.com � -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of R. Scott Perry Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2001 10:07 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: [IMail Forum] precedence:bulk header >After comparing our old mail software (Post.Office) and our new mail >software (IMail), this header is the only difference. Post.Office mail >arrived at AOL fine. Imail does not. >So yes, with 99.99% certainty, I have proved this is the problem. Was the old software running on the same IP address? Did the old software send the same HELO text? Those are two things that could easily be overlooked that would make a difference to AOL. I'm not trying to tell you that you are wrong, just that it is very unlikely that AOL will filter on that header, and that in the past we proved that they did not filter solely on that header. Perhaps your old mail server was on an IP address that had a reverse DNS entry. Note that your current mail server is missing its reverse DNS entry (go to the Reverse DNS Tester at http://www.declude.com/tools and enter "63.170.197.9" without the quotes; lots of people are sure they have a reverse DNS entry even though they do not), and there have been rumors that AOL has blocked mail based on the IP address in the past. Even if your old mailserver was on the same IP address, it could be that the missing reverse DNS entry combined with the Precedence header (and likely some other stuff) could trigger a "weighting" or "point" system that only gets triggered if a certain number of tests fail. >So please, no more telling me what I already know. I apologize if my post came across the wrong way. I was just trying to help prevent the spread of possible misinformation. AOL has 2 types of filtering: One type that is public knowledge ( http://postmaster.info.aol.com ) and another top-secret filtering mechanism. Unless you've spent a lot of time dealing with AOL's dropped E-mails, there's a good chance you may think they are doing something they aren't. I was very surprised that we couldn't get them to drop any E-mails no matter what we did with the headers. >Tell me please the answer to my question. If you do not know, then no >need to reply. No, I do not know the answer to your question (at least not without using a hex editor, which I wouldn't recommend). But please also be aware that I do feel a need to reply. The purpose of my reply is three-fold: [1] Helping spread the information about what AOL is really up to (dropping lots of E-mail to its customers, and that it has both 'public knowledge' and 'secret' filtering), [2] Making sure that only correct information is posted here, to prevent the spread of misinformation (I'm not saying you posted any incorrect information, I just want to make sure the lurkers don't mis-read anything), and [3] Helping to solve *your* problem, and to let you know that a simple DNS fix may be all you need. -Scott --- Declude: Anti-virus, Anti-spam and Anti-hijacking solutions for IMail. http://www.declude.com Please visit http://www.ipswitch.com/support/mailing-lists.html to be removed from this list. An Archive of this list is available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/imail_forum%40list.ipswitch.com/ Please visit http://www.ipswitch.com/support/mailing-lists.html to be removed from this list. An Archive of this list is available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/imail_forum%40list.ipswitch.com/ Please visit http://www.ipswitch.com/support/mailing-lists.html to be removed from this list. An Archive of this list is available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/imail_forum%40list.ipswitch.com/
