>> >> On a related topic, netzero.com has been refusing connections from our SMTP >> servers. When I queried them the response I got was: >> >> have been blocked because we detected probe attempts. Activities like >> sending mail to non-existent accounts or empty connections would qualify as >> a "dictionary search" or "probing for valid addresses" and IP's used for >> such activity would be automatically blocked for a temporary period. >> >> Subsequent communications have dealt only with the non-existent accounts. >> Does blocking us on this basis make any sense? And has anybody else >> encountered similar issues with netzero? If so, how resolved? >> >> In their favor, they did at least respond to me. And it doesn't appear to b= >> e >> a robot (or if it is, at least an intelligent one) as it entered into a sor= >> t >> of a dialog. This is better than other s who either don't respond ot use a >> robotic response. Among these are yahoo.com, aol.com, bellsouth.net and >> charter,net. I list these here not as a form of criticism as I accept the >> possibility that we may have something configured incorrectly or >> sub-optimally. My real aim is to find other postmasters who have had simila= >> r >> problems with these (or other sites) and discover from them what it is we >> may need to change. >>
Hi, this is not about netzero (but I am a particular friend of aol:( for similar reasons.) To start with, I am maintaining a web shop, so people will eventually complete a form with their email address, and the server will send them an order confirmation. We observed a certain rate of failed deliveries (perhaps 1%) due to visitors unable to spell their own email address correctly. After some time, I changed the system so that a connection is attempted when the visitor completes the form, and any 5xx response will result in a "please check your email address" to the browser. Of course a few domains that are known to bounce later (aol) are not probed. Recipient servers could consider the same thing as address probing - how tell them? About responses: I received a "please be patient" type of auto response from aol; when I mailed them the auto response back a week later, they informed me that they could not find the original message.... Wolfgang Hamann
