Known Problematic ISP's
From CGWiki
We've been having some difficulty with several ISP's and contacting folks. I'm listing some of the ones I've run into, plus some general info on our setup.
Contents |
Our Inbound Email Setup
We currently filter our incomming mail. Our filters are as follows.
- Clients that use our domain, our IP address, or any IP address instead of a resolving hostname are blocked.
- Clients that use a domain that doesn't resolve are blocked.
- Email addresses that have unresolving domains are bounced.
- Anything else is checked against the Spamhaus SBL and XBL, and if a hit results, the mail is bounced.
- The same goes to a local blacklist. If it's in there, it's bounced.
Email that gets bounced back has a descriptive notice. If you get:
- Don't use my own hostname/IP address: Your ISP's email server is old and broken. You need to talk to them, and have them upgrade it.
- Your software is not RFC 2821 compliant: Your ISP's email server is very very old! Once again, an upgrade will fix it.
- Relay access denied: We are not an open relay. If you are trying to email old @keenspace.com addresses, they will be bounced back because we're not Keenspace anymore. We do not forward mail for comicname.comicgenesis.com, and some third party domains do not have forwarding set up. Correct your emails and try again.
- Sender address rejected: Domain not found: Your email address must have a resolving domain name. Fake ones will be shot on sight.
- Helo command rejected: need fully-qualified hostname: Your ISP's email server is, again, broken. Depending on the cause, you may have to find the mail admin and have him fired.
Kelly monitors the Usenet newsgroup news.admin.net-abuse.email for trouble spots, and may create a local blocking list. If you get a notice specifically about this, you need to read the notice with a calm face and check below.
If you get any spam advertising a CG comic, report it to abuse (at) comicgenesis.com.
Outgoing Email
Known DNSBL Entries
If you or your ISP checks mail against these blocklists, you will not receive our mail:
- BlarsBL (lists our ISP as harboring spammers -- Kelly knows)
- STBL (lists our ISP, but site is defunct -- don't use! Doesn't provide proof!)
As of Jan 28 2006, CG is not listed on the two major DNSBLs, SPEWS and Spamhaus SBL/XBL.
Signups
Signup verification email may be delayed for up to an hour due to a bug in the signup code. This is known and we're going to rewrite it all to fix it. Hang tight, you'll get it within 24 hours.
General out-going tips
If you are running a whitelist setup, please add comicgenesis.com to your allowed domains so that emails can get through.
Kelly currently uses SpamAssassin on his account on CG and on his ISP. Windows users can use SpamFu, which is a SpamAssassin setup and POP proxy server. All are free, of course.
Specific ISP and Webmail info
Strange Behavior
AOL
AOL occasonally blocks us because users keep hitting "This is Spam" instead of "Delete". Emails from Comic Genesis are ether from forum@, help@, or tygris@. Anything else may be spam and should be forwarded (with full headers, please) to Kelly via abuse (at) comicgenesis.com.
Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail
Sometimes these two tend to deliver email from us to the Bulk folder. Please, whitelist us and mark those CG emails as not spam so Yahoo and Hotmail will get a clue.
Earthlink
Earthlink's spamblocker allows users to set their level of security. If you have set it to "HIGH" please whitelist us. Every forum thread you watch generates a challenge email to forums@, which lands in Kelly's box. If you do not, you may find your rank changed to "Needs to contact STrRedWolf" and Kelly PM'ing you to fix your account or face a ban (because in effect, you're spamming him).
If you set it to "MEDIUM" you should also save the spam for examination -- this doesn't cost you any room and lets you know how bad Earthlink is filtering.
Cox Communications
As of Wed, April 26th, 2006 Cox Communications installed a rather ineffective spam filter. It catches and redirects some legitamite mail, and there's no way to shut it off (as far as I hear). The only access to it is via Cox's webmail. If you're waiting on mail from us, check it via the webmail -- and if it lands as spam, move it over and call Cox to comment on how bad it is.
Comcast
As of Thursday, August 31st, 2006 Comcast is agressively blocking sites with minor infractions of spam being forwarded without warning. If you find that mail from us is not being delivered, check here first. Then PM me (STrRedWolf) on the Forums, or use an alternate address to contact me on the main server. We will get to the bottom of this -- and if need be, recommend you switch away from Comcast.
According to this Mercury News article which tells of the oldest Internet community, THE WELL, being blocked, you may have difficulty reaching Comcast's abuse department.
Blocked at our mail server
Wanadoo.fr and Proxad.net/free.fr
There has been continous reports on NANAE over a year on these two ISP's doing nothing about their spam problem, even though they are receiving abuse reports. If you are in France and are trying to email us, your mail may bounce. A notice will be given to why.
Proxad.net (which redirects to free.fr) has reportedly been more affected by infected PC's, though. Before bugging your ISP, please clean your system with a good antivirus program like AVG Antivirus and a good antispyware program like Lavasoft's AdAware and the independent Spybot Search and Destroy.
Verizon (including MCI/UU.NET/WorldCom)
In the Summer of 2006, Verizon bought MCI (formerly WorldCom, which was formerly MCI). MCI also owns UU.NET, so you can assume Verizon now owns UU.NET.
Inbound to CG
Parts of Verizon netspace are listed on Spamhaus. There are listings for Verizon regular and Verizon Business(old MCI). This may change, so if email to us is being bounced back with a link to Spamhaus, check the link and contact Verizon.
According to Spamhaus's Steve Lindford, Verizon will be booting the old MCI spammers off and teaching the MCI/UU.NET executives that allowed it how to play fairly.
Some activity in UU.NET space has raised some concerns, so we have blocked a /24 (256 IP addresses) from emailing the server.
Outbound to Verizon
As of April 24th, Verizon has turned on a hyper-agressive whitelist filter. This in turn is blocking anything and everything, including CG email. If you can't receive any CG email, you need to contact Verizon.
Contacting Verizon
Slashdot and NANAE have reported that Verizon's tech support (at first and second levels) are not the best in dealing with the problem. Some say that the tech support is outsourced to India. You may have to "turbo" the support call up to Verizon's CEO. The Art of Turboing may help.
Verizon's FiOS service seems to be local, from experience (Kelly now has fiber optic access to his house). Also, Verizon does have an independent auditing team that occassonaly scans through and takes up any case that isn't going through properly. Things may be looking up at Verizon.
AITCOM.NET
As of Thurs, Aug 10th, 2006 AITCOM.NET IP Space is blocked. This was due to repeated reports of ignored spam complaints on NANAE. AITCOM.NET is considered black hat aka unable to perform it's duties as a good network entity and is block on sight. If you find your mail blocked with the message "Spammer ISP! AITCOM.NET needs to talk to Spamhaus now." then you need to contact your ISP and tell them "Get rid of the spammers or we're moving out."
ABOVE.NET
As of Monday, Aug 21st, 2006 parts of ABOVE.NET IP Space are blocked from emailing CG, due to too many Spamhaus SBL listings and spam received from said IP space. Reports from NANAE say ABOVE.NET is black hat and considered block on sight. Email will be bounced back with a notice pointing to the listing information. If you are getting these bounces, you need to contact ABOVE.NET, tell them to fire the abuse and legal departments, and hire someone who doesn't forward complaints to ROKSO spammers.
