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I am a normal person and am still blocked


ncbergs

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Hi,

I have been blocked several times this week from sending email to my friends. I have looked up my ISP and my number. Neither seem to be blocked.

How do I unblock my email to my friends?

:angry:

Here is the header for one of the blocked emails....

Your message of Wed, 28 Jan 2004 18:24:54 -0800 entitled:

(no subject)

could not be delivered to the following recipient(s):

x[at]X.com -- 216.187.255.3 does not like recipient.

Remote host said: 571 5.7.1 SpamCop reject for 140.174.9.93 - See

http://spamcop.net/bl.shtml

Giving up on 216.187.255.3.

The full text of the message is attached below.

------------------------------------------------------------

Return-Path: <ncbergs-0dgf0AJoqkGgg3xSeLwIk4EUyj6/k3/[at]mailblocks.com>

Received: (qmail 16301 invoked from network); 29 Jan 2004 02:24:49 -0000

Received: from 10.10.0.50 (HELO mailblocks.com) (10.10.0.50)

by 10.10.0.93 with SMTP; 29 Jan 2004 02:24:49 -0000

Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2004 18:24:54 -0800

From: <ncbergs[at]bellsouth.net>

Message-Id: <ncbergs-0dgf0AJkqkGgnRArSd7xwWpyq4qGaPr[at]mailblocks.com>

Received: from 208.61.140.221 by app1.mailblocks.com (10.10.0.50) with HTTP

(Mailblocks); Wed, 28 Jan 2004 18:24:54 -0800

X-MB-Message-Source: WebUI

X-MB-Message-Type: User

In-Reply-To: <000f01c3e602$19325d40$48b44a18[at]netvista>

Subject:

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

MIME-Version: 1.0

To: x[at]x.com

X-Priority: 3

I just checked and...

The IP address 140.174.9.93 does not appear on the MAPS RBL.

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Hi,

I have been blocked several times this week from sending email to my friends.  I have looked up my ISP and my number.  Neither seem to be blocked. 

How do I unblock my email to my friends?

Here is the header for one of the blocked emails....

Your message of Wed, 28 Jan 2004 18:24:54 -0800 entitled:

could not be delivered to the following recipient(s):

    ealmasy[at]sinclair-co.com -- 216.187.255.3 does not like recipient.

Remote host said: 571 5.7.1 SpamCop reject for 140.174.9.93 - See

http://spamcop.net/bl.shtml

Giving up on 216.187.255.3.

<snipped>

What really needs to happen is that the ISP you're trying to send this to should really follow the rules and finish up the rejection message. So what you need to look up is http://www.spamcop.net/w3m?action=checkblock&ip=140.174.9.93 and there you will see what's been happening at the server that's sending your e-mail out.

After you read through that data, then it's time for you to talk to your ISP and see what can be done to shut off the sew of garbage.

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Hi,

I have been blocked several times this week from sending email to my friends.  I have looked up my ISP and my number.  Neither seem to be blocked. 

How do I unblock my email to my friends?

<snipped>

Damn, only now do I actually read your data ... mailblocks.com ... you must be kidding...

OK, here's the recent history ... mailblocks.com uses the challenge/response system ... that's caused a lot of folks grief, as they're getting challenge messages for no good reason .. i.e., forged "From:" addresses and the like ...

Then, recent history (noted not showing in this specific IP log) has shown e-mail from mailblocks hitting spamtraps ... addresses that only exist to be scraped and used by spammers, thus "catching them in the act" .... so why would mailblocks be sending challenge e-mails to addresses that "don't exist" .....

The last week or so has been an unending stream of mailblock users dropping off some pretty bad commentary .. but of course, these same posters never respond to answers sent, not bother to come back and read the answers provided to their sometime threatening, usually idiotic remarks.

That I see you're still logged on is a good sign .... let's hope you see this before leaving ...

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Actually, I have kept my browser on, hoping that someone might give me some information without as much attitude.

If the challenge/response is giving SpamCop problems, what do I need to do to recitfy it?

Hi!

Not sure this is what you want to hear, either, but: I think you may need to find a better way to avoid receiving spam than to use a provider that sends unsolicited and underserved challenge e-mails (with advertising, I gather) to people (and, I gather, to spamtraps), preferably one that uses blocklists (BLs). SpamCop e-mail service is one such option, although I read that there are others.

Good luck!

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Actually, I have kept my browser on, hoping that someone might give me some information without as much attitude.

If the challenge/response is giving SpamCop problems, what do I need to do to recitfy it?

Sorry that you see that my explaining the current situation as "attitude" ... As a user, ther's not much you can do, unless you wish to assist those that have been trying to get the attention of the mailblocks administration to get things squared away. Thus far, it only appears that they are advising their customres to do the drive-by posting of complaints into the SpamCop forums ... they have not answered direct e-mail, they have not gotten involved (other than the above and I'll admit that this is only a 'group' assumption, but it's based on the actions seen within the last couple of weeks)

As I said before, the issue is mailblock sending their challenge requests to folks not actually involved in any direct e-mail transfer, and the spamtrap hits from mailblock's IP range/servers ... thus the addition to the SCBL list of these IP addresses .. which other ISP's and other entities use to keep spam out of their servers.

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[Hi!

Not sure this is what you want to hear, either, but: I think you may need to find a better way to avoid receiving spam than to use a provider that sends unsolicited and underserved challenge e-mails (with advertising, I gather) to people (and, I gather, to spamtraps), preferably one that uses blocklists (BLs).  SpamCop e-mail service is one such option, although I read that there are others.

Good luck!

..Regards,

...Steve

After this lovely experience, I will *never* be a customer of spam Cop. I am also contacting all my friends who use it to tell them about this wonderful evening I have spent with spam Cop.

Mailblocks uses a challenge with no advertising. A spammer sends me some hated spam. His computer gets a challenge from Mailblocks. If he can prove that he is a human sending email (which of course he cannot), he merely clicks on a an html tag that proves he read the mail (which he didn't since he has already dumped that email address). The challenges are not solicited. They are in response to an email sent to a person like me who hates 25 emails from Uganda a day. (Does anyone really give them a bank account?) I have a right to challenge any unsolicited email.

You can also block entire domain names, etc.

Obviously you like your spam service. I like mine too. It doesn't require spending all night on the computer.

It would also make sense for spam Cop to allow replies to current messages. I merely wanted to contact someone at my own church. It is not like I was trying to sell something. But that is another question for another day.

Regards to you,

Mary

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Actually, I have kept my browser on, hoping that someone might give me some information without as much attitude.

If the challenge/response is giving SpamCop problems, what do I need to do to recitfy it?

How about this? ... If you've caught much of any news in the last day or two, then you've heard abotu the latest virus spreading like wildfire. The note that it gets sent out from a compromised computer with a forged "From:" e-mail address, derived by several different methods.

So at issue is a virus laden e-mail, the fogery machine put in someone's name[at]mailblocks.com, and it allegedly came from joe[at]somewhere.com ... the next thing that happens is a challenge message sent to joe[at]somewhere.com, who say "what the h***", I don't have a clue as to who this is, why I'm getting it, what the heck it's all about .... Thereby easily meeting the "unsolicited crap" designation, so away go the spam complaints.

Surely, you see the issues involved ..???

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I'll buy that. We have that virus coming from discontinued email addresses from 2 years ago.

However, if a virus is causing SpamCop to block my email to my friend, why is that my fault or even Mailblocks fault? Perhaps, SpamCop should have a time of moratorium on blocking email services. Some jerk has his jollies screwing up email traffic and you are letting him screw it up even more.

Mary

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After this lovely experience, I will *never* be a customer of spam Cop.  I am also contacting all my friends who use it to tell them about this wonderful evening I have spent with spam Cop. 

Your perogative of course, though it should be pointed out that you're in a strange period of SpamCop "support"

Mailblocks uses a challenge with no advertising.  A spammer sends me some hated spam.  His computer gets a challenge from Mailblocks.  If he can prove that he is a human sending email (which of course he cannot), he merely clicks on a an html tag that proves he read the mail (which he didn't since he has already dumped that email address).  The challenges are not solicited.  They are in response to an email sent to a person like me who hates 25 emails from Uganda a day.  (Does anyone really give them a bank account?)  I have a right to challenge any unsolicited email.

You can also block entire domain names, etc.

To this, you need to read my last post. There are two sides to your Golden Bullet!

Obviously you like your spam service.  I like mine too.  It doesn't require spending all night on the computer.

I'm sure that you are not aware that this is only Day 2 of this web-based Forum, and still isn't quite officially advertised .... thus the lack of traffic at this point. Support has been done via NNTP (or mail-list), so you're here at the start of a transition to this mode.

It would also make sense for spam Cop to allow replies to current messages.  I merely wanted to contact someone at my own church.  It is not like I was trying to sell something.  But that is another question for another day. 

Regards to you,

Mary

Sorry, I haven't a clue as to what you mean there... If I had to guess, you're complaiing that your e-mail from mailblocks was blocked by your church friend's ISP. Again, this was a decision by your friend's hosting service to keep spam out of their servers. If needed, try another e-mail service, even HotMail if you absolutly need to make contact. Just a suggestion.

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The irony of it is that Mailblocks was doing its job.  It has successfully kept that virus out of my inbox with the challenge.

Won't argue that. But will argue that sending out those thousands (?) of challenge responses to forged addresses is still akin to spamming the heck out of all those innocents. As I said, two sides of the issue.

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[Hi!

Not sure this is what you want to hear, either, but: I think you may need to find a better way to avoid receiving spam than to use a provider that sends unsolicited and underserved challenge e-mails (with advertising, I gather) to people (and, I gather, to spamtraps), preferably one that uses blocklists (BLs).  SpamCop e-mail service is one such option, although I read that there are others.

Good luck!

..Regards,

...Steve

After this lovely experience, I will *never* be a customer of spam Cop. I am also contacting all my friends who use it to tell them about this wonderful evening I have spent with spam Cop.

Mailblocks uses a challenge with no advertising. A spammer sends me some hated spam. His computer gets a challenge from Mailblocks. If he can prove that he is a human sending email (which of course he cannot), he merely clicks on a an html tag that proves he read the mail (which he didn't since he has already dumped that email address). The challenges are not solicited. They are in response to an email sent to a person like me who hates 25 emails from Uganda a day. (Does anyone really give them a bank account?) I have a right to challenge any unsolicited email.

You can also block entire domain names, etc.

Obviously you like your spam service. I like mine too. It doesn't require spending all night on the computer.

It would also make sense for spam Cop to allow replies to current messages. I merely wanted to contact someone at my own church. It is not like I was trying to sell something. But that is another question for another day.

Regards to you,

Mary

IMHO [in my humble opinion], your ire is misdirected. If MailBlocks only did what you have explained, it is unlikely to be on the SpamCop.Net blocklist.

Other people have posted (in the NNTP version of this forum, which used to be the appropriate place for these discussions) that they have received challenges from MailBlocks although they have never sent an e-mail to a MailBlocks user, but because someone else has forged their e-mail address. There are also claims that [a] server registered to the MailBlocks domain (based on IP address) has sent e-mail to spam Traps. There was a claim by someone that a MailBlocks challenge message included advertising of some sort. This evidence suggests that, while it may be serving a useful purpose to you, it causes what many of us outside its realm see as spam.

Yes, you have a right to challenge unsolicited mail. And other ISPs and other e-mail users have the right to not accept e-mail from IP addresses that have been reported as sending spam (and, by the way, just one report from one user is not enough to cause an IP address to make its way onto SpamCop's blocklist).

SpamCop does not block spam (except spam directed to a SpamCop e-mail user). It does not block any domain names, only IP addresses through which spam has been reported being sent.

SpamCop, by the way, is not my spam service. I only use SpamCop to report spam that I have received.

SpamCop does not block or allow replies to current messages. SpamCop can not keep you from contacting someone at your church. That someone's e-mail service provider may, however, use SpamCop's publicly-available blocklist to stop messages that come from IP addresses that have been reported as being sources of spam. SpamCop isn't attempting to block you because you are "trying to sell something" -- other e-mail service providers are blocking you because you are using a service that has been reported as sending spam.

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I'll buy that.  We have that virus coming from discontinued email addresses from 2 years ago. 

However, if a virus is causing SpamCop to block my email to my friend, why is that my fault or even Mailblocks fault?  Perhaps, SpamCop should have a time of moratorium on blocking email services.  Some jerk has his jollies screwing up email traffic and you are letting him screw it up even more. 

Mary

The gist of the problem is that Mailblocks will send email to any address you ask it to. SpamCop deploys a wide net of spamtraps, addresses which are invalid and have never been valid. The only thing going to these addresses is spam. But mailblocks sends a lot of messages to these spamtrap addresses.

That shows that Mailblocks sends a lot of invalid mail to random addresses. Now, that might be because of spammers, but it's still a Mailblocks server that is generating that mail. They're the ones responsible, they can't claim "A spammer made me do it." A well-run anti-spam system won't generate extra emails sent to innocent people.

Trust me, we don't block Mailblocks on purpose. There's no malice involved. But as long as their mail servers keep churning out emails to our spamtrap addresses, they'll probably stay listed.

JT

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I have just talked to two people who I was blocked from emailing yesterday.  Neither of them have spam Cop.  How is spam Cop bouncing email if they are not even subscribed?

In such cases, their ISPs are blocking mail using the SpamCop Blocking List, and not informing them sufficiently about this.

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I have just talked to two people who I was blocked from emailing yesterday.  Neither of them have spam Cop.  How is spam Cop bouncing email if they are not even subscribed?

But they are subscribed... sort of. See, Spamcop has two functions. First, they provide mailboxes for their own customers (name[at]spamcop.net). Spamcop blocks spam from getting into those Spamcop-hosted mailboxes. Secondly, Spamcop allows other mail service providers to use Spamcop's list of spammers/spam sources to block spam to their customers. Your friends are not Spamcop subscribers, but their email service is. Spamcop isn't blocking your email at all - but your friends' ISP (using Spamcop's lists) is. Tricky distinction.

And as far as your reception here, don't take it too personally. We're all here because we're sick of spam and angry at spammers, and sometimes we're edgier than we should be. Stick around and try to understand both sides of the Mailblocks issue. The more people we have who are here to talk and not to do drivebys, the better.

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[And as far as your reception here, don't take it too personally. We're all here because we're sick of spam and angry at spammers, and sometimes we're edgier than we should be. Stick around and try to understand both sides of the Mailblocks issue. The more people we have who are here to talk and not to do drivebys, the better.

Just because the SpamCop club members are sick of spammers does not give anyone the right to be rude. Just because you cannot see my face does not give you permission to make fun of me.

If you want real people to use this forum as a place for help, the moderators might want to think about kindness a little. Everyone cannot be a smart and wonderful as you are.

It is hard to listen to your argument. My eyes and ears tend to tune out when people are making fun of me because I use a different email service than they do.

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