Bad Hosting Situation

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

Received this email tonight from my hosting company. Has this ever happened to you? As a result of someone else's spamming, I can't send email from my website address. Receiving is fine.

I'm using an alternative email address for now, but it's a pain in the behind. I should have listened to Guy.



Hello Client,

We apologize that no one has contacted you for so long and for the misleading information.

I've been working on this ticket for a little while and what I've come to find out with the help of the headers you've pasted in the post is that your shared IP is being black listed.

That means that somebody on your server has sent
enough unsolicited e-mail to be blacklisted, affecting all other clients on
that server. There are two approaches to resolve this issue:

Contact the blacklisting entity and petition to
have the server removed from the blacklist.

I've gone ahead and done this for you. It will take some time to propagate.

However, you would still be grouped
with the negative actions of others should someone else on the shared server
choose to send a large amount of unsolicited e-mail again.

The other option is...

2. Sign up for a dedicated IP address for $2 more per month. This ensures that
outside entities only hold you accountable for your own actions and not the
actions of others on your shared server.

Again we apologize for the amount of time it's taken to respond back to your ticket.
Please allow some time for the IP to be removed from the black lists. We've petitioned the removal, but it may happen again. We try to monitor and enforce our policies of no spamming; however, clients seem to find ways and continue this bad practice which creates unwanted results to others on shared servers. We are working to help resolves these kinds of problems, but it is still known to happen.

 

[djs]

Happens all the time.
This usually happens when someones account gets hacked and then a script is loaded to send out spam emails.

When it happens once or twice, it's an easy thing for the host to fix. If it happens on an ongoing basis, it is time to find a new host.

Basically, the flow happens something like:
- Account gets hacked, script is loaded to forward spam
- People suddenly start reporting large amounts of spam coming from that server.
- Mail server gets added to any number of 'black-lists'.
- Sites quickly shut down receiving mail from that server.
- Server administrator locates at fault account, shuts it down, sends a warning to the account holder.
- Server administrator acknowledges problem fixed to blacklists. If not a repeat offence, it is usually cleared in a few hours.

The biggest thing you need to worry about is that it is not your account.....

Dan

 

[Guest]

The other option is...

2. Sign up for a dedicated IP address for $2 more per month.

TWO BUCKS! A MEASLY TWO BUCKS!!! After all of the dues I have paid into your association, over and above the required amounts (admittedly to win overpriced shoddy junk and trips to the middle of nowhere), and the association information flow grinds to a halt over TWO DOLLARS??? I seriously need to rethink my participation in your association in anticipation of a recapitulation with no stipulation for a re-evaluation, me thinks.

 

[Guest]

Usually if your host is one of the larger and better known ones with a good track-record, the blacklists take the offending IP off the list quickly.

In the meantime you can get a gmail account and use that. If you don't want to do that I own several domains along with my own server and I'll be happy to give you an email to use until yours gets back online. Just PM me if interested. It only takes me about a minute to set up, doesn't cost me anything, and you can get they mail via your mail client or via a web interface.

 

[SoCalBroker]

Can he get an Amen?

I seriously need to rethink my participation in your association in anticipation of a recapitulation with no stipulation for a re-evaluation, me thinks

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

Al...Thanks, but it looks like they fixed it this morning. I never had that happen so I didn't realize that this was just a temporary thing.

Patriot...I understand your concern. And you're right. Since 2002. you have paid more than $14,000 in Association dues. And I guess those Aetna golf-shirts you won (all 10 of them) are getting a bit old. The good news is that next month, we are adding discounted E&O coverage to all active members. The policy covers short-term disability applications written in seven states. And I noticed you wrote 55 of them last year in these seven states. So, that might help you out a little.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Sorry...I spoke too soon! 20 hours later and the problem is still there!

I use Midphase and I guess it's time to look for a more reliable server.

 

[djs]

Run your mail servers IP through:
Email Blacklist Check - See if your server is blacklisted

and see if it is still blacklisted. Make sure you use the mail servers ip if it is different than your webserver. If you aren't sure what the mail servers IP is, use the tab on the site that says 'MX Lookup', which will give you the IP address(es) for the mail server.

Dan

 

[SoCalBroker]

Major bummer!

for mega mailing you may want a non self hosted solution like aweber or jvlistpro. They keep on top of their action, so you dont have to be the whitelist/blacklist mx record and IP address monitor.

As far as hosting ...

Im using Hostgator

Others swear by BlueHost

I liked Hostgator for their free 1st month offer... and the ability to be manually billed and to pay with Paypal vs. them having my CC at their disposal.

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

I ended up paying the extra $24 per year to get a dedicated IP address. They will do that tonight, although website will be shut down for 4-24 hours.

Now over 25 hours and issue not resolved. They said they have tried everything and aren't getting cooperation from outfit that blacklisted. Could be another day or a week. I did not want to wait.

 

[CPACINS]

TWO BUCKS! A MEASLY TWO BUCKS!!! After all of the dues I have paid into your association, over and above the required amounts (admittedly to win overpriced shoddy junk and trips to the middle of nowhere), and the association information flow grinds to a halt over TWO DOLLARS??? I seriously need to rethink my participation in your association in anticipation of a recapitulation with no stipulation for a re-evaluation, me thinks.

I have asked a couple of times... What association?