Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Dedicated Server : Emails marked as spam. Should I stay or should I leave?

[vmhatup]

I decided to create a new thread because it isn't about IPs. It's about moving to another web host or just dealing with the problem at hand.

Anyways, I have accepted the fact that if I stay with my current provider, my emails will temporarily be marked as spam. They say that it's because the IP has never been used before to send email. True or not, I've accepted that reason.

My managed provider and I have done everything in our power to fix it (switched IPs, IP/email configuration, WHT suggestions, different domains, etc) but it is what it is. Both my managed provider and I know that it's the new IP, so please do not question my business reputation, my domains, the email contents, etc.

My question is: Should I stay with them and work through this unfortunate ordeal or should I move elsewhere?

Thanks.

[monty1983]

try plugging your IPs into the mxtoolbox blacklist checker:

http://www.mxtoolbox.com/blacklists.aspx

[quantumphysics]

https://aws.amazon.com/ses/

[srfreeman]

Certainly move. This seems to be giving you altogether too much heartburn.

Time to try a new venue.

[Lightwave]

Originally Posted by vmhatup

I have done everything in our power to fix it (switched IPs, IP/email configuration, WHT suggestions, different domains, etc) but it is what it is.

IMHO, with the exception of possibly "WHT suggestions", everything you mentioned seems to me to be more of a reason your mail will continue to get marked as spam.

Pretty much everything you listed is exactly what a spammer does to avoid getting on a blacklist. If you don't want your mail to be thought of as likely spam, then don't do things spammers do.

[qwidjib0]

It's totally possible to get marked as spam without even being in an IP blacklist- do some basic research first. It could just as likely be your fault. Make sure you have rDNS set, that your domain name isn't in SURBL or DBL, that DNS on your domain isn't screwy, that you have a valid SMTP banner, on top of the IP blacklists that mxtoolbox will show you.

[vmhatup]

This is the first time I purchase a dedicated server, I have not gone live with my business site, my emails are not spam, I've only sent a handful of emails, my managed provider is doing all the configuration, but it is somehow my fault.

Northcutt Consulting and Lightwave Networking, for reasons beyond my understanding, blame me. Fair enough.

@quantumphysics and srfreeman: Thanks for your posts.

[Snelinternet]

Did you try running it through spamassassin and seeing what it says?
Paste your email (including headers) in a .txt file and run spamassassin -D < /path/to/email.txt

Alternatively, give me a link to a test e-mail of you (including headers) so I can have a look what would cause it to be marked as spam.

[vmhatup]

Originally Posted by Snel IS

Did you try running it through spamassassin and seeing what it says?
Paste your email (including headers) in a .txt file and run spamassassin -D < /path/to/email.txt

Alternatively, give me a link to a test e-mail of you (including headers) so I can have a look what would cause it to be marked as spam.

I send them via MS Outlook. I sent one yesterday with header "Email to test my [username] hotmail, yahoo, gmail accounts" and message "This is en email to test see if these providers will mark this email as spam. From Myers" My host did exactly the same thing, with the same results.

I appreciate your post, but I don't need to run this through spamassassin to know it's not spam.

[Snelinternet]

Originally Posted by vmhatup

I send them via MS Outlook. I sent one yesterday with header "Email to test my [username] hotmail, yahoo, gmail accounts" and message "This is en email to test see if these providers will mark this email as spam. From Myers" My host did exactly the same thing, with the same results.

I appreciate your post, but I don't need to run this through spamassassin to know it's not spam.

I'm sure it isn't SPAM, but spamassassin will tell you everything that is bad or negative about your e-mail.
Something simple as an invalid PTR or SPF record will cause a lot of false positives.
Perfectly legal and personal e-mails can, caused by a combination of small issues, be marked as SPAM.

It's always wise to regularly check your e-mails to make sure the clients receive it, just to be sure.

[vmhatup]

You're right. It doesn't hurt to try.

So I ran spamassassin with one of the emails that our web application sends, and I got a bunch of text in my command prompt. Is there anything specifically I should look at?

Thanks.

[cedricd]

It's hard to tell without seeing the log. Could you post the results (you can edit anything personal or related)?

[Snelinternet]

Originally Posted by vmhatup

You're right. It doesn't hurt to try.

So I ran spamassassin with one of the emails that our web application sends, and I got a bunch of text in my command prompt. Is there anything specifically I should look at?

Thanks.

Above the contents of original file, you should see something like this:

X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.2.5 (2008-06-10) on
xxxxx
X-Spam-Level:
X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.0 required=5.0 tests=none autolearn=ham
version=3.2.5

[vmhatup]

X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.3.1 (2010-03-16) on PRMD-PC
X-Spam-Level: *
X-Spam-Status: No, score=1.6 required=5.0 tests=MISSING_DATE,MISSING_MID,
NO_RECEIVED,NO_RELAYS,SUBJECT_NEEDS_ENCODING autolearn=no version=3.3.1

This is the result.

[Snelinternet]

Originally Posted by vmhatup

This is the result.

Those are some small things that could be fixed, but they are no reason that your mail should be marked as spam.
The IP address is not listed at http://www.mxtoolbox.com/blacklists.aspx either?
And are you sure the IP address resolves in a proper rDNS, which in turn resolves to that exact IP address? (and matches the server name)?