Hello ---
Please add
Hostgator to the list of misbehaving ISPs. My open ticket number with them is "[HGSales #AHN-13042-988]".
If you are a SpamCop Admin or Moderator, please feel free to email sales at hostgator dot com or support2 at hostgator dot com, with a cc to me - sean at twin-dad dot com, to try to explain to them the error of their ways. I've gone round and round with them and am pretty much fed up with them.
Granted, I'm on a shared hosting plan with these guys, at $14.95/month, but this service is atrocious, IMO. I am already looking for a new host and/or an email service provider. Read on if you want, and you can make up your own mind too ...
Mike Easter on the SpamCop newsgroup recently walked me through the process of troublehooting this problem, and it became quite clear that Hostgator's Exim 4.50 configuration is the issue. Below are the more relevant excerpts from my emails to and from Hostgator support. Enjoy!
Thanks for any help, suggestions or even just commiseration that you can offer,
Sean Sowell
=====
From: "Sean Sowell"
To: "Hostgator Support Team"
Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2005 0951
Subject: Please let me send email a t t a c h m e n t s to S p a m C o p
> > Hello,
> >
> > Ok lets try it again. I am closing this ticket. Please reply me in a new
> ticket. i.e changing the subject line to something else. Let me see if it goes
> through.
> >
> > Best Regards,
> > Joe,
>
> OK. Just so you understand where I'm coming from, this is about the ninth or
> tenth time I have /tried/ to set up a support ticket about this issue. One of
> the attachments is named *-take-4.txt, but that just means that I tried to get
> this issue across to you folks four times on the 13th alone. I have actually
> been trying to get this thing resolved with Hostgator since July 9th.
>
> FAIR WARNING: By now, I am _/VERY/_ frustrated and ticked off. From my point
> of view, all this hassle over what should be a simple fix is TOTALLY
> UNACCEPTABLE.
>
> See the files inside the attached zip file for my questions. Follow the links I
> gave in those files, so you can understand the issue and see how much time I
> have already taken with the folks on the S p a m C o p news groups.
>
> And finally, PLEASE ANSWER MY QUESTIONS!!!! I am trying to learn and understand
> here. DO NOT just keep throwing up one straw-man objection after another and
> ignore my questions.
>
> Thank you.
>
> Sean Sowell
> www.twin-dad.com, et al.
>
> PS: I'm putting the extra spaces in between certain words because apparently my
> previous submissions were triggering one or more Hostgator filters.
=====
From: "Sean Sowell"
To: "Hostgator Support Team"
Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2005 2212
> > Email attachment issue should be fixed now.Please retry.
> >
> > Best Regards,
> > Joe,
>
> Hello Joe ---
>
> Nope, sorry, that didn't work. I tried to submit the 21 spams that got by
> SpamAssassin in the past 48 hours. Below is the full message source, with a few
> things [munged]. I also snipped off all but the first spample.
>
> If you need more info to troubleshoot this, please let me know and I'll help as
> best I can.
>
> Thank you for your effort!!!
>
> Sean
...
=====
From: "Sean Sowell"
To: "Hostgator Support Team"
Sent: Friday, July 15, 2005 0046
> > Hello,
> >
> > The .eml files were being filtered. I removed it. Is it still not
> working ?
> >
> > Best Regards,
> > Joe,
>
> Still not working. The latest attempt is attached, [munged] and snipped
> for brevity.
>
> Sean
...
=====
From: "Hostgator Support Team"
To: [Me]
Sent: Friday, July 15, 2005 0708
> The system filters out eml attachments and for good reason. There is no way to configure/remove this on a per domain basis... and I will not do it globally.
>
> Thank you for allowing me to assist you!
>
> Warm Regards,
>
> L.Foster (GatorLyron)
> Systems Administrator
> Hostgator Support Team
=====
From: "Sean Sowell"
To: "Hostgator Support Team"
Sent: Friday, July 15, 2005 0741
> Good morning ---
>
> Still not working.
>
> Key part of the attached file ----> X-Failed-Recipients:
> submit.[munge]@spam.spamcop.net
>
> Am still unable to forward .eml attachments to SpamCop. It appears that I
> can now write ".eml" in the body of the email without it being rejected,
> but of course that isn't the solution to this problem.
>
> FWIW, if you simply allow your _known_ _legitimate_ customers to include
> .eml attachments in any message addressed to submit.*@spam.spamcop.net,
> then that should work, and still keep the window small enough to prevent
> the propagation of malware to any other address.
>
> The "*" just after the "submit." above is a unique multi-character
> identification code issued by SpamCop to each registered user. For
> example, my unique code is sixteen characters long, contains upper and
> lowercase letters only, and is in the form NRFjzSoSDnLDupEk. This is not
> my actual SpamCop code; I just created this sample to /look/ like it.
>
> I don't know if SpamCop ever issues codes that include numbers or any
> other ASCII characters, or if they are always sixteen characters long. I
> also don't know if Hostgator's outbound mail filters allow for wildcarding
> and/or whitelisting of specific destination addresses in conjunction with
> otherwise blacklisted file attachment extensions. Nonetheless, I offer
> this information in the hope that it helps you to resolve the problem.
>
> Thank you again,
>
> Sean Sowell
=====
From: "Sean Sowell"
To: "Hostgator Support Team"
Sent: Friday, July 15, 2005 0748
...
> That is not an acceptable response. Please escalate this, to the owner of
> the company if necessary. Please also see the message I sent to Support2
> about six minutes ago. The information there may help.
>
> Thank you.
>
> Sean Sowell
> www.twin-dad.com, et al
=====
From: "Sean Sowell"
To: "Hostgator Support Team"
Sent: Saturday, July 16, 2005 1213
> > > The system filters out eml attachments and for good reason. There is
> no
> > way to configure/remove this on a per domain basis... and I will not do
> it
> > globally.
> ...
> > That is not an acceptable response. Please escalate this, to the owner
> of
> > the company if necessary. Please also see the message I sent to
> Support2
> > about six minutes ago. The information there may help.
>
> Yesterday morning at 0748 Pacific time, I asked that this issue be
> escalated. Since then I have not heard anything.
>
> QUESTION: Has it been escalated?
>
> QUESTION: Who at Hostgator has responsibility for this issue now?
>
> QUESTION: When should I expect a response?
>
> Thank you,
>
> Sean
=====
From: "Hostgator Support Team"
To: [Me]
Sent: Monday, July 18, 2005 0736
> The system filters .eml files due to virus and attack concerns. This configuration is set in the interest of system security and will not be unset. If you need to send a .eml file, ensure you enclose it into a zipfile before sending.
>
> Thanks for choosing HostGator!
>
> -David
=====
From: "Sean Sowell"
To: "Hostgator Support Team"
Sent: Tuesday, July 19, 2005 1336
> David, I am sorry that this has gotten to this point, but you really do
> need to READ MY PREVIOUS POSTS. Your reply leads me to believe you do not
> understand the limited scope of my request.
>
> I am NOT asking that .eml attachments be allowed to be sent to any domain.
> All I am asking is that .eml attachments be allowed to be sent to the
> spamcop.net domain. The SpamCop spam parser is specifically designed to
> accept such attachments.
>
> Again, this respone is not acceptable. Please escalate, to the owner of
> Hostgator if necessary.
>
> Thank you.
>
> Sean
=====
From: "Hostgator Sales Department"
To: [Me]
Sent: Tuesday, July 19, 2005 2348
> I am sorry there is nothing more we can do regarding this unless you wish to purchase a dedicated server than we can configure any way you want.
>
> Thank you for allowing me to work with you!
>
> Sincerely,
> Brent
=====
From: "Sean Sowell"
To: "Hostgator Sales Department"; "Hostgator Support Team"
Sent: Wednesday, July 20, 2005 2051
...
> Hello Brent,
>
> If, judging from some of the Forum posts, you are Hostgator's owner, could
> I ask please for the _reason(s)_ that Hostgator is not willing to let me
> fight the good fight against spam and send my spamples to SpamCop by way
> of .eml attachments?
>
> If you are not the owner though, please escalate my request to him/her.
>
> Once you guys make this change all you need to do is get out of the way
> and let me do my thing. I can't see how my request is unreasonable in any
> way. I also can't see how this request would create any risk, liability
> or downside for Hostgator or its other customers.
>
> If I'm wrong, please tell me how and why. Yes, I am clearly frustrated.
> But please also help me understand this seemingly bizarre refusal to make
> an apparently small one-time change to your mail server(s). Unless I am
> completely off-base, it looks to me like you guys would rather shield the
> spammers from active members of the anti-spam community like me!
>
> It just makes no sense to me that you would rather side with the spammers
> against the larger internet community.
>
> And I don't see why I should be asked to spend untold more $s per month
> for a dedicated server, just to obtain this one - apparently simple -
> thing!?
>
> Thank you.
>
> Sean
=====
From: "Hostgator Sales Department"
To: [Me]
Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2005 0003
> The system filters out eml attachments and for good reason. There is no way to configure/remove this on a per domain basis... and I will not do it globally. if we changed this on the server Many of our users would be getting viruses as well as sending them, and we would be blacklisted, much more frequently.
>
> Thank you for allowing me to work with you!
>
> Sincerely,
> Brent