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e-mail being bounced as spam when it is not

penneck
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 1,089
Thanks: 79
Registered: ‎03-08-2007

e-mail being bounced as spam when it is not

I belong to a club which sends out a weekly e-mail to all members. It has never been a problem before, but this week my e-mail was bounced as spam - see the following message received by the club:-

"host mx.avasin.plus.net [212.159.8.200]
SMTP error from remote mail server after end of data:

552 Spam Message Rejected"
 
Any ideas why this should have happened, please?
 
One difference between this e-mail and all previous was that all addressees were CC-ed whereas normally they would be BCC-ed
 
Thanks
7 REPLIES 7
7up
Community Veteran
Posts: 15,824
Thanks: 1,579
Fixes: 17
Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Re: e-mail being bounced as spam when it is not

From my understanding, large numbers of email addresses in the CC field can look suspicious to an email server if they are all from differing domains etc.

Even though BCC operates on the same principle as CC, I think mail servers treat it differently when applying spam filters - the logic being that you're not randomly flooding a load of people and exposing their emails to each other but doing something serious and copying someone in on it for a reason.

Bonkers i know.. but i've noticed similar behaviour elsewhere before. All you can do is try again, there is no guarantee that using BCC again will fix this but it would sort of make sense..

I need a new signature... i'm bored of the old one!
ReedRichards
Seasoned Pro
Posts: 4,927
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Registered: ‎14-07-2009

Re: e-mail being bounced as spam when it is not

If I am on a mailing list I don't want my email address to be shared with everyone else on the list.  If email providers do their bit to discourage this practice by blocking emails with large numbers of addresses in the CC field then good for them!

penneck
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 1,089
Thanks: 79
Registered: ‎03-08-2007

Re: e-mail being bounced as spam when it is not

Thankyou 7up and ReedRichard. I'm sure you are right about the cause, but what happens to the actual e-mail - does it just disappear, or does it get put in a spam box or tray where it is stored for who knows how long? If the latter, can I access the spam box to see what is there, and if I find 'spam that isn't spam', can I rescue it?

7up
Community Veteran
Posts: 15,824
Thanks: 1,579
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Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Re: e-mail being bounced as spam when it is not

The only place you'll find a copy is in your sent folder in your email client.

The SMTP server has rejected the email - it says so in the message so it will not store a copy in plusnets email database for later viewing through squirrel mail etc. Stupidly not many SMTP servers store a copy of outgoing mail anyway - if any at all. Most work on the logic that if you've sent through smtp using a client like outlook, you'll have a copy kept locally.

It's a pain when using webmail like yahoo because when you log in from your phone etc, sent mail isn't in the sent folder but on your PC...

I need a new signature... i'm bored of the old one!
penneck
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 1,089
Thanks: 79
Registered: ‎03-08-2007

Re: e-mail being bounced as spam when it is not

I guess that means that the Sent Folder is the one that belongs to the club that sent the 'spam' e-mail. As you would expect, I didn't receive the 'spam' e-mail. The way I found out about it was when I received a second e-mail from them, this one apologising that the first e-mail had been sent out with the addressees being CC-ed rather than BCC-ed - I guess that was to stop us complaining about telling everyone our e-mail addresses. When I replied that I hadn't received the original e-mail so what they were trying to tell us all was still unknown to us, they complained that it was the plusnet e-mail server that bounced the original e-mail to me as spam so I had to do something to prevent all future e-mails being bounced.

From what you write, it seems there is nothing I can do, except tell them not to CC our addresses.

Oh well! Thanks for your help

Luzern
Hero
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Registered: ‎31-07-2007

Re: e-mail being bounced as spam when it is not

@penneck wrote:

---. When I replied that I hadn't received the original e-mail so what they were trying to tell us all was still unknown to us, they complained that it was the plusnet e-mail server that bounced the original e-mail to me as spam so I had to do something to prevent all future e-mails being bounced....

 As PN is doing the dirty, could white listing the club's address offer a solution?

Moderator's note by Mike (Mav): Quote fixed.

No one has to agree with my opinion, but in the time I have left a miracle would be nice.
penneck
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 1,089
Thanks: 79
Registered: ‎03-08-2007

Re: e-mail being bounced as spam when it is not

Hello Luzern, sorry for any delay in replying but a tree cut the telephone cable to my house on Sunday, and they only repaired it this evening.

How do I white list my club's address? I wouldn't know where to start looking for any white list, leave alone adding anything to it