Issue With AOL & Other ISPs Blocking WLSJourney.org Mail

[MsJacquiiC]

Some ISPs Have Been Blocking Us?

Some of you who have registered with @aol.com, @att.net and @bellsouth.net email address... I'm afraid I need to offer my sincerest apologies. For some odd reason AOL and Bellsouth/AT&T and a few other ISPs (Internet Service Providers) have blocked the receiving of email from our wlsjourney.org mail servers. So - some of you may not have gotten your validation emails and any other communication from the forum, including thread subscription emails & our weekly newsletter.

If you are a Member who uses AOL, AT&T or Bellsouth, you might consider editing your email address via your User Control Panel. If you have yet to receive your validation email - please send me a brief note to info@wlsjourney.org from your registered email address with your username & birthdate and I will approve your account manually.

Rest assured, I am doing everything I possibly can in order to remedy this issue. I have contacted the ISPs, requesting removal from their block lists. In fact, since I am all about open information share, below you will see my current communication with the AOL people. Hopefully they will agree that we are following their email policies and remove WLSJourney.org from their block list.

As soon as this issue is sorted, I will resend the email validation to all affected Members. Thanks for your understanding and your patience. As always, continue to enjoy the forum and happy posting!

Jacquii.
jacquii@wlsjourney.org

Hello Sridhar - Jacquii Cooke here - the Administrator of JPiCForum.info, Poetry in Color Forum and WLSJourney.info, The Journey Community Forums. I have just switched my forums to a new VPS hosting and was having some issues getting the vBulletin forum software email settings correctly configured on the new server. I have since corrected the error and will like my domains -- http://jpicforum.info and http://wlsjourney.org -- promptly removed from the aol blocked providers list. Jacquii. ---------------------------------- ---------------------------------- -------Original Message------- From: Sridhar Date: 9/22/2009 9:57:29 AM To: info@wlsjourney.org Subject: AOL Mail Delivery Error-554 RTR:BL Hello, I am contacting you regarding the ticket you opened with AOL concerning a mail delivery issue. Your IP address was blocked for poor IP reputation. Poor reputation can be the result of bad mailing statistics, including but not limited to high complaints. To help identify the root of your reputation issue, please consider the answers to the following questions: 1. How did you obtain your list of AOL members? I did not "obtain" a list of AOL members. My sites & forums are open to the public. All of my forum Members join free of charge and are not forced to accept any email from us. There's nothing tricky or gimmicky about my forums' registration process and all who have registered are able to receive forum subscription emails and other communications. Unsubscription from all forum mail may be done by request and/or simple unsubscribe links which appear in all our emails OR by editing the settings in the User Control Panel. Our privacy polices and terms of service are visable to all site users, with the link being shown in the footer of all pages as you can see at: Terms of Service - WLS Journey Community Forums Privacy Policy - WLS Journey Community Forums Terms of Service - Poetry in Color Forum Privacy Policy - Poetry in Color Forum 2. Do you have a one-click unsubscribe link? Yes - Unsubscribe links are in all emails and our newsletters as well. 3. Are your lists confirmed opt-in? All email communication from my forums are sent out as in an automated process, unless I personally send out an email to certain usergroups. So yes - our lists are confirmed opt-in. Again - Members do have the option to unsubscribe from lists and also - during the registration process -- which you can see at either http://jpicforum.info/register.php or http://wlsjourney.org/community-forums/register.php -- there is the option to deny receiving of email from both Administrator and Members. Confirmation of email settings is required automatically by the vBulletin software. 4. Are you following AOL's Best Practices? http://postmaster.info.aol.com/guide...ksenderbp.html I have just read the AOL Best Practices policy and I do believe that I am following the policy to the letter! There is one thing that may have caused the issue with my forum software. I had previously set my send address as my own personal email address: jpicforum@comcast.net and wlsjourney@comcast.net --- I have been told by the vBulletin software manufactures that the correct setting should reflect my domain name! I have since changed the address to reflect my domain names: info@wlsjourney.org and info@jpicforum.info --- I do believe that this small correction further shows that I am attempting to follow AOL's Best Practices policy and should have the block against my IPs removed asap!

[MsJacquiiC]

Well GREAT news Everbody!
I have just received a response from the gentleman I corresponded with earlier:

The IP's were blocked for complaints couple of months back which I presume was before you took the ownership. I have removed the block on these IP's and the block should be cleared in 24 hours. Thank you, Sridhar AOL Postmaster.

So the AOL issue should be fixed within 24 hours!

I also have just received a response from the AT&T Postmaster which I'd written a few days back:

Dear Administrator: Thank you for contacting the AT&T Postmaster. The mail server IP address(es) associated with your request will be removed from the block list within 24-48 hours from the date of this notification. AT&T, Bellsouth, SBC and any affiliates do NOT intentionally block legitimate mail in the course of our anti-spam initiatives and regret any inconvenience this may have caused.

So - the Bellsouth and AT&T issue shall also be fixed within the next 24 - 48 hours! I do again apologize for any inconvenience this issue has caused and hope to not encounter such an issue again.

Jacquii.

[Roni]

Seems like someone has been real busy! This is great news.

Debbie

[MsJacquiiC]

Yes indeed! And I'd hoped all the administrative side of things were taken care of before open registrations - so was a bit miffed when I saw AOL and others not allowing our validation emails to be sent. So I got busy -- So far so good though - and now I can concentrate on posting, rather than trying to fix stuff.

Jacquii.

[MsJacquiiC]

I'd added the statement quoted below in a notice for the Users Awaiting Email Confirmation usergroup. For some odd reason Hotmail & MSN had blocked mail from the WLSJourney.org mail server. I filed a support ticket and posted on the Windows Live forums (Remove MSN/Hotmail Block from my domains and IP Please! - Windows Live Help) and am glad to report that this issue has been remedied!

I am not sure why the hell these email providers decided to block mail from our new mail server. I hope this is the last time we have to deal with such an issue, as I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired ARG. I am moving this announcement to the News Archive in a few days.

I will be resending validation emails for those of you who may still listed in the Users Awaiting Email Confirmation usergroup. I hope you will please accept my apologies for this very frustrating errors.

Thanks for your patience and understanding.

Jacquii.

UPDATED NOV. 3, 2009 For whatever reason - MSN and hotmail have stopped allowing our email to go through. Members with @hotmail.com, @live.com, @msn.com, and other MSN/Hotmail email address will NOT be able to receive any email generated from WLS Journey until the issue is sorted. Unfortunately - This includes the validation email as well. My apologies for this brief delay in your account approval, but rest assured we are trying to remedy this issue as quickly as possible. Until then - Please send an email to info@wlsjourney.org for verification purposes and I will upgrade your membership to "Registered Member" status ASAP! Jacquii.