DO NOT use NETFIRMS.com to host your site

[rwurbanwildlife]

I have been having major email issues. All registration emails are never arriving. I have sent several dozen emails to tech support and all they can do is come up with excuses as to why they can't fix my problem. Essentially they are charging me for a service that does not work with SMTP email even though they say it will. DONT WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY FOR A HEADACHE!!

HERE IS THEIR LATEST RESPONSE TELLING ME I AM A SPAMMER! #2 is bogus as I have been online for 2 weeks and have about 140 users, the problems started day one.

Hello,

One of our system administrators checked the email logs and found that the emails from your domain were filtered out by our spam scanning solution. You will not be able to send emails from your domain name using our SMTP servers for now as your domain reputation is low. The possible reasons for the low domain reputation are given below:
1. The contents and the subject line in your email was considered as spam by our filtering system.
2. Lot of recipients marked your email as spam in their email client.
3. There were multiple bounce backs due to bad recipient addresses when you sent an email to a list of addresses.

We have already submitted an email sample to the spam scanning solution to have it analyze your domain name and to consider its emails as genuine. Unfortunately, we cannot give you any guarantee that the domain will be white listed as the analysis is automated.

If the issue is not fixed after 48 hours, you will not be able to send any emails using our SMTP servers. If you are using an email client to send emails, you can use your ISP'S SMTP server. You will need to contact your ISP to get the SMTP details. This will not impact your email services with us in any way as you will continue to host it with us. If you need any additional help on configuring your email client, please let us know the email client you are using to send/receive emails.

If you have any further questions, please update the Support Console.

[Paul M]

#2 is not a bogus reason, thats a valid reason that e-mail systems may mark you down.

You seem to be confusing a list of possible reasons with your own reasons, the fact that may not be true for you, doesnt mean its not valid. :)

[TheLastSuperman]

Also I wanted to let others know that this could be legitimate and by that I mean the spam emails... I've cleaned up a few hacked sites where the hacker gained enough info and uploaded shell scripts to upload email scripts so if you were hacked at any point in time and did not clean it up thoroughly (110% lol) then your site IS sending out those emails because there's something quite nasty on your sever doing so sadly.

*This can happen if you were ever hacked OR another account was hacked lets say on a shared server etc, if you just moved to a new host it is also possible the old host did not catch onto the behavior and the new host did, the problem could have been long-existing and you're just now finding out because one host is on par more than the other.

Here's the gist of it, in your email programs or windows live mail for example you can enable and view email (message) headers, that there can tell you IF they originate from your site, they can make the email say it's from your same exact email, it will say from "youremailaddress@yoursite.com" but in the header it will give specifics and you can tell by that if its in fact from your site originally or not.

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/29436?hl=en

So with all that said, if I sum it up, you may not be sending out the emails however your site could still be sending them if compromised.

[rwurbanwildlife]

This is a new account, new site, the problem started right out of the gate, Netfirms has told me they know what the issue is and why it is happening, they continue to tell me the vbulletin activation emails are SPAM. They offer no other solution except to quit spamming....

[RichieBoy67]

Many shared hosts get crazy at times about many emails though in your case there are not many. Some of them are most likely bouncing back as well.

Perhaps you can change the activation email to look less spammy to them but I'm not sure if it is actually the content. I think it is more the fact that multiple emails that are the same go out that is getting them flagged as spam even though they are legit.

[rwurbanwildlife]

Many shared hosts get crazy at times about many emails though in your case there are not many. Some of them are most likely bouncing back as well.

Perhaps you can change the activation email to look less spammy to them but I'm not sure if it is actually the content. I think it is more the fact that multiple emails that are the same go out that is getting them flagged as spam even though they are legit.

Changing the email header and text body worked!!! For 5 emails.....

[ozzy47]

Time to get a new host then.

[RichieBoy67]

Changing the email header and text body worked!!! For 5 emails.....
Do you mean they flagged it after 5 emails or 56 have worked so far?

Do you have your activations sending on a cron task? If so I would turn that option off. Maybe you are sending out multiples at once and maybe sending them out as they come in sort of a trickle will work.

I agree with Ozzy here though. Time for a better host. I have dealt with many shared hosts in the past that have cut off email, etc but that was usually due to resource usage. I had a client a few months back have her email shut down for sending out a mass mail to her members. A mass mail of around 1,000. This was also a host she had for years. She also had issues with her host shutting her down because a single member complained about getting spam mail from her in the form of subscribed posts, etc instead of unsubscribing or changing their profile option. -- Just saying it is common with crappy hosts to encounter these things.

[Max Taxable]

This is a new account, new site, the problem started right out of the gate, Netfirms has told me they know what the issue is and why it is happening, they continue to tell me the vbulletin activation emails are SPAM. They offer no other solution except to quit spamming....I ceased requiring the verification of email addresses long ago. It doesn't inhibit spam at all and hasn't for quite awhile - the autospam programs such as XRumer defeated this long ago - they've defeated human verification totally on ALL the major email providers as well.

It does nothing for you but cause these problems with your host, and annoy legitimate users. Just stop requiring it.

[RichieBoy67]

I ceased requiring the verification of email addresses long ago. It doesn't inhibit spam at all and hasn't for quite awhile - the autospam programs such as XRumer defeated this long ago - they've defeated human verification totally on ALL the major email providers as well.

It does nothing for you but cause these problems with your host, and annoy legitimate users. Just stop requiring it.

Really? :eek:

The reason I use verification is not only for spam but so that when I send out email to members I do not send out to a zillion registered users with fake emails and waste server resources on bounce backs.

[rwurbanwildlife]

Richieboy and Max both make valid points.

I have it off right now, some people register, don't get their email, then never come back, that sucks.

I have had several spammers register even with all the spam stoppers in place.

But i would like to have legitimate email addresses.

[TheLastSuperman]

Time to get a new host then.

I deem this, the most valuable post in this thread.

WHAT?!?! :cool:

[rwurbanwildlife]

Cron sending is OFF.


Anyone tried these guys? http://www.urljet.com

[ozzy47]

I have heard nothing but good from them, and the specialize in vBulletin set ups, so I would say they are a go, as I told you in PM. :)

[Max Taxable]

Really? :eek:

The reason I use verification is not only for spam but so that when I send out email to members I do not send out to a zillion registered users with fake emails and waste server resources on bounce backs.It might shock some to learn that the autospam programs don't even need a valid email account, they get the verification code from the script on pageload after clicking "submit."

You're going to have a zillion bounce backs on these verified, fake email accounts anyway.

I have had several spammers register even with all the spam stoppers in place.This, I very highly doubt. I have secured five sites against spam to date, and none of them have had even one spammer register successfully or post. You're doing it wrong. Go here and read and heed:

The Era of Big Spam is Over. (http://ozzmodz.com/showthread.php/506-The-Era-Of-Big-Spam-Is-Over)

[TheLastSuperman]

Cron sending is OFF.


Anyone tried these guys? http://www.urljet.com

I use them, running a VPS setup... Cron R1 Hourly backups, ability to restore site to within one hour (if hacked etc), and super-duper support (I work there, with that being said though that sort of makes my feedback biased so best bet is to read reviews!).

The best place to read about the experiences of other vBulletin owners with various hosts is within this forum:
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/forum/general/vbulletin-hosting-options

In particular this thread:
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/forum/general/vbulletin-hosting-options/21955-host-experiences-and-testimonials-thread