AOL Major Problem -petition

PLEASE HELP US TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM. HERE IS MY SUPPORT TICKET TO DREAMHOST. FEEL FREE TO COPY OR COMPOSE YOUR OWN PETITION TO SOLVE THIS MATTER:

AOL is refusing ALL email from Dreamhost's mail server.

It is impossible for us to maintian communication with
our clients who use AOL. The AOL error message indicates that they are blocking all mail associated with the ISP's SMTP server's ip address due to a large amount of spam being generated from this ip address.

Since we only use our email for legitimate business and communication, we are being blocked by association with your other customers who are presumably using your servers to send spam.

We feel that it should be Dreamhost's responsibility to clarify the situation with AOL, since this is fast becoming a major hassle for us and our clients.

We would like to be able to send email from the accounts associated with our dreamhost domains, and not have to resort to using web based services such as yahoo or gmail, or ISP based services such as Optonline etc..

Please advise us how to have AOL stop blocking our emails, or please contact AOL and resolve this issue.

Signed,


YOUR NAME HERE

the problem is that this isn't necessarily dreamhosts fault. the problem is AOL's spam filter. the problem is when someone sets up a dreamhost email address that forwards to their AOL account and then reports junk mail to AOL (via their AOL spam filter). AOL monitors where the spam is coming from, the problem is that AOL apparently only sees that the email is coming from the forwarding dreamhost email account and not the actual origin and is punishing dreamhost by blacklisting them.

basically AOL is looking at SPAM that is being forwarded to an @aol.com email account from a dreamhost email address as being sent from that dreamhost address - which it's not

Not only that, but it's very easy to get blocklisted from AOL. They are an over-zealous big bully. This happens from time to time with DH. They are usually pretty good and getting unblocklisted.

Quite honestly, I look at clients who use AOL (though I currently have none, thank God) as an opportunity to get a new hosting referral.

It seems AOL also now blocks E-mail by IP simply because the incoming E-mails have gone over a certin limit. See this Thread with the message headers from a bounced message.

"EXPLANATION:

The IP address on your ISP's network has generated a high volume of mail to AOL and has exceeded our rate limit. Possible causes include a compromised or virus-infected personal computer or a non-disclosed server relaying mail within the ISP’s network."

Great, now not only do they have to worry about spam, dramhost can't sent too many E-mails per hour to AOL.



--Matttail
art.googlies.net - personal website

In reply to:

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Please advise us how to have AOL stop blocking our emails, or please contact AOL and resolve this issue.

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Dreamhost has explained the problem repeatedly, and they don't know how to "have AOL stop blocking our mail" any more than you or I do. Dreamhost has, and I believe *is* continuing, to "Contact AOL". As for the "and resolve this issue" part, that would be a nice outcome, but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it to happen.

I also would not expend another iota of energy lobbying Dreamhost to "fix" this, as it is AOL that is the problem.

Tell your customers the truth. When they begin to figure out that it is AOL that keeps them from receiving your, and many other's, email in their little ghetto and either scream bloody murder at *AOL*, or leave (as have *millions* of other users recently) , AOL *might* begin to resolve the issue. Notice I wrote, "might", as AOL has not proven itself to be particularly good at change at general, hence the recent "mass exodus" of AOL'ers from their private AOHELL in an attempt to join the real internet community.

I know that the "petition" was an attempt to do *something*, and it probably made you feel better to write it (because you are "furious"), but it is misdirected by being sent to Dreamhost who is not only painfully aware of the frustration it causes their customer but is also unable to do much more than they have to rectify the situation.
--rlparker