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October 06, 2008, 08:40:10 AM


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Author Topic: Huge upsurge in bounce email messages  (Read 516 times)
mbeaver
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« on: April 20, 2008, 07:37:43 AM »

I am frantic this morning as when I turned on my computer I received over 500 new messages stating that email I supposedly sent had not been delivered!  I'm afraid my email address is going to be blacklisted!  Since it is displayed on all the pages on my website, I need to have it accessable.  I run McAfee virus protection all the time on my computers and am scanning them again this morning in case something could have slipped through the cracks.  I use Outlook for my email rather than webmail and it is set up to send via Comcast.  Do you have any suggestions for me?
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MrPhil
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« Reply #1 on: April 20, 2008, 09:54:40 AM »

I'm trying to understand your email client setup. Are you saying that you are sending out emails directly from your PC and ISP (Comcast), while using a "From" and/or "Reply To" address at your site at Lunarpages? Perhaps your emails are being bounced because some system thinks you're forging the LP site address. Maybe an SPF record added to your LP email accounts will fix it (indicate that it is OK for you to send out emails with this address). Try searching for SPF record to get the details.
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mbeaver
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« Reply #2 on: April 20, 2008, 10:40:02 AM »

Please understand that all these emails I am receiving today reporting undeliverable emails are not reporting emails I actually sent!  This is all spam from someone pretending to use my email address to send all this crap.  If 800 of them did not reach valid email addresses in just one half day, there must have been hundreds of thousands that did!  If my email address is being used falsely to this extent, what is going to happen, or more importantly, how can I stop it?
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MrPhil
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« Reply #3 on: April 20, 2008, 12:39:29 PM »

Ah, that's a horse of a different color. I would still add an SPF record, so at least you won't be blamed for the spam (I think). I'm afraid that your email address (and thus your server) are still likely to be blacklisted. Be sure to copy wrongful bounces of legitimate emails (including full headers) to abuse@lunarpages.com so LP can get your server unblacklisted ASAP. If any of your site pages display your email address "in the clear" or in a "mailto" visible in the HTML source, you WILL fall victim to spammers. At the least, research how to obfuscate your email address using JavaScript so that it becomes harder to harvest. You should probably change your current email addresses if they've already been harvested. Some spammers are just going to use a legitimate domain name and make up email addresses -- did that happen to you, or did they use actual addresses?
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mbeaver
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« Reply #4 on: April 20, 2008, 02:34:08 PM »

Thanks so much for trying to show me what to do.  I have searched for SPF record and read lots of information but I don't understand how I am supposed to do this!  Is this something I am supposed to do with Comcast or with Lunarpages, and where do I enter this information.  Please note I am 73 and doing my best to be computer savy, but things like this were a lot easier 20 years ago! 
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MrPhil
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« Reply #5 on: April 20, 2008, 02:51:35 PM »

These pages might be handy: here, and also here and here and here and here. The general idea is that you create SPF record(s) for your domain(s) and have Lunarpages support install them.
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mbeaver
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« Reply #6 on: April 20, 2008, 03:54:12 PM »

Does this look like I have done everything right, and if so, how do I enter it?

photography-plus.com. IN TXT "v=spf1 a mx include:comcast.net"
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MrPhil
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« Reply #7 on: April 20, 2008, 04:09:40 PM »

Did you use one of the SPF "wizards" to create it? If so, it should be good. Open a support ticket with Lunarpages and ask them to install it (email to support@lunarpages.com or use the web interface). Remember to tell them your record EXACTLY as the wizard created it.
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mbeaver
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« Reply #8 on: April 20, 2008, 06:39:50 PM »

This was exactly how the wizzard created it, but you know the slogan "garbage in - garbage out", and I didn't know what the questions meant so not sure if I entered the right answers!  I did open a support ticket and explained the problem along with what I hope will be the solution.  I am still getting about 100 of those emails each hour indicating a rejection of some spam email that someone thinks I sent.
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mbeaver
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« Reply #9 on: April 21, 2008, 07:31:02 AM »

Hi, I just wanted to report that the addition of the SPF record worked like a charm!  The nightmare is over!  Lunarpages support is the greatest!
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Mitch
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« Reply #10 on: April 21, 2008, 07:49:18 AM »

Happy to hear you got that worked out!
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