Removing Site from Spam Filters and ISP Blocks?

Blaine Garrett asks: "I run a small online art community called the Art Attack. A lot of my members that sign up are not getting their welcome emails and newsletters. Most often, I cannot even directly email the members. Services such as hotmail automatically put email from my server in the junk mail folder. A while back someone was using the server to bounce spam. I am not sure if this is the direct cause, or not. Is there away to get off the spammer lists of these big services? Additionally, I have been informed that, since the site contains art depicting nudity, ISPs have been blocking the IP of my server. This is rather annoying since I also provide web hosting for other sites on the server. I'm losing customers and hits. Is there a way around this?" With respect to the Spam lists, this article might be helpful, but it may be harder to get the server removed, considering it has already been marked as an open relay. It will be harder to get your server out of ISP Filters, however. One man's "art" can always become another man's "porn", and convincing them otherwise will be difficult to impossible, especially since there is nudity on the site. What suggestions do you have for Mr. Garret, in terms of helping him get his site off of as many lists as possible?

Comments

heh

[revmoo]

What suggestions do you have for Mr. Garret, in terms of helping him get his site off of as many lists as possible?

The only real surefire way to accomplish this, as many organizations have found out harshly is that one must sell their soul to the devil.

Now, this may sound drastic, but the soul is at an all-time high on the SIN(Soul INdex), so now might be a good time to get that management position as well, while you're at it.

I hear ya'

[moosesocks]

I hear you. Getting de-blacklisted is quite possibly one of the most frustrating tasks in existance.

Last week, every site in my netblock got classified by SPEWS, and consequently, SpamCop picked up a message coming from another account on my server and placed us on their 'experimental' blocklist which is apparently used by quite a few ISPs. This prompted a million and a half other spam lists to classify us just because we appeared on spamcop (who handled it much more fairly than the rest - they properly bounce detected spam, and removed us from their list after two days of inactivity.

All because we were A) In the same colo facility as a big-time spammer, and B) on a shared webhost which happened to host a small-time spammer on the same IP.

Long story short, I had to threaten my host that i'd cancel the service unless I got moved to a new IP. After a heated argument, they finally did.

Oh yeah. The two servers which were blocked hosted no more than a boy scout troop and a convent.

Augh.

HOWTO: Get delisted

[mrex]

1) Fix your mail server. If you're not sure it's fixed, hire an administrator. This includes migrating away from a spammy network, if you live in a slum don't be surprised when you can't get a pizza delivered.
2) Determine if you are listed in any public DNSBLs or RHSBLs. If so, check the website for a way to request a retest and removal. Failing that, contact the maintainers. Get yourself removed from these first.
3) Gather a list of ISPs which are blocking you directly. When you are sure you've got all your ducks in a row with steps 1 and 2, contact postmaster@ those ISPs, explain the situation, and politely request a reevaluation of your status. Be polite but persistant. If you don't make any headway in e-mail (or if postmaster@ doesn't accept mail -- a contravention of RFC) contact them by phone and then paper letter. Keep things polite. Don't go making insults or legal threats...speaking personally as an admin, this will get you on my "do not remove until the heat death of the universe" blacklist with a quickness. You have no rights to the pipe I pay for.

NOTE: All bets are off if you're actually just a spammer (this includes unconfirmed opt-in), or are an ISP who has had a relapse after claiming to turn over a new leaf. In either of those cases, I will at my discretion block you and anything you're associated with, forever.

It's simple

[Pathwalker]

All you have to do is repeat this question as a post in the newsgroup news.admin.net-abuse.email.

This group is inhabited by a bunch of friendly and good natured people who will happily help you solve your email problems.

You might take a bit of good natured ribbing, especially if your mail server is still an open relay, but just play along, and join in the fun.

Your email worries will be over in no time!

Re:It's simple

[mvpll]

Don't forget to mention that you actually enjoy recieving the odd piece of unsolicited email and don't understand why some people throw a pink fit when they get one or two a day.