Author Topic: Bouncing Emails - pesky errors  (Read 10723 times)

Offline JTheotonio

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Bouncing Emails - pesky errors
« on: December 01, 2008, 11:16:47 AM »
Below is a typical error message many people get when they send out e-mails to friends and family.  There are a lot of reasons for the error, but one that is troublesome for me is that the e-mail server on the receivers end is actually putting a block on your e-mail address for some reason.  Most likely the host servers think you are spamming your friend’s account.  You and your friend know this is not true, and even go to the trouble of adding your e-mail to their safe list.


Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:

    anyones@hotmail.com

Technical details of permanent failure:
Google tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the recipient domain. We recommend contacting the other email provider for further information about the cause of this error. The error that the other server returned was: 550 550 Requested action not taken: mailbox unavailable (state 14)

This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification



Hotmail, MSN, and Yahoo have been known to block e-mails coming from Gmail for other reasons.  Some think that these email companies are blocking Gmail for commercial reasons – that is to prevent clients from switching to gmail.

As a Point of Contact (POC) for New Jersey South Base, I send out a lot of emails during the month and always get a handful where delivery has failed for some reason or another.  Here is a short list of typical reasons that an email gets bounced.
1.   Recipient’s mailbox is full
2.   e-mail address was wrong (as provided by recipient)
3.   there was a typo in the email address (sender’s error)
4.   There was a typo in the subject line (yes this can cause problems)
5.   Your email or IP address has been blocked by the recipient’s email provider

What should you do? Well if you are getting emails bounced that you know should go through you start by checking with your recipient.  Have that person check to see if he/she inadvertently added you to their spam or unsafe list.  Make sure that you typed the email address correctly.  Check with the recipient to see that they provided you with the correct email address.  Ask the recipient to check their mailbox.  If it is full, they might consider deleting or archiving some of their older emails. 

Some spam filters look for misspelled wording in the subject line – you know those fancy spammers try things like “V i arga is it for u” as a way to get past spam filters, so filters have gotten more sophisticated in recognizing spam.

Your last option is to check with the ISP provider, or email provider that is blocking your emails.  Ask if your email or IP address has been blocked, and ask then why it has been blocked.   This may take some doing – as these providers tend to be very slow in removing a blocked email or IP address.

Don’t know your IP address, then try one of these methods. Probably the easiest one of them all is to open IE, and in the address bar write down "whatismyip" (without the quotes) and press CTRL+ENTER:
http://www.whatismyip.com

Another easy link can be reached by typing "showmyip" and pressing CTRL+ENTER:
http://www.showmyip.com

What is an IP address?
IP Address (Internet Protocol Address): This number is an exclusive number all information technology devices (printers, routers, modems, et al) use which identifies and allows them the ability to communicate with each other on a computer network. There is a standard of communication which is called an Internet Protocol standard (IP). In laymans terms it is the same as your home address. In order for you to receive snail mail at home the sending party must have your correct mailing address (IP address) in your town (network) or you do not receive bills, pizza coupons or your tax refund. The same is true for all equipment on the internet. Without this specific address, information cannot be received. IP addresses may either be assigned permanently for an Email server/Business server or a permanent home resident or temporarily, from a pool of available addresses (first come first serve) from your Internet Service Provider. A permanent number may not be available in all areas and may cost extra so be sure to ask your ISP.

I hope this helps everyone understand a bit more about pesky errors and bounced emails.  Spammers cause more problems that the apparent flooding of your mailbox.

I'm going to post this same thread over at LIB for those that may be members there so you don't need to read it twice.
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Offline Lance Dean

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Re: Bouncing Emails - pesky errors
« Reply #1 on: December 01, 2008, 03:53:04 PM »
I had and still somewhat have terrible problems with this.  There are two guys here on this forum that I still have problems with.  One guy gave me a bad email address on registration, so it always bounces.  The email box doesn't exist.  The other guy uses AOL (aka The Devil) and has his account set up to where NO ONE can send him email unless the sender's address has been pre-authorized to go through.  That sucks.  I gave up trying to get through.

The big problem?  The server's IP address for this website had been blacklisted with AT&T somehow, so no emails sent from this website were getting through to anyone with BellSouth, AT&T, or any of the other baby bells.  I had to work with my webhosting company to get the IP address for this site un-blacklisted with AT&T and it's little devils.  What a mess!

The biggest problem?  Whenever I send out legitimate emails from this website or the Gmail account also used for this forum, some people (enough of them apparently) marked the message as SPAM!?!  When you get enough users marking an email address as spam, eventually NO ONE can receive emails from that address anymore as it will go straight to their junk/spam folder.

If you are getting emails from a legitimate source (like me) and you don't want to receive them anymore, PLEASE let me know and I'll remove your address from my mailings.  Please don't mark them as spam, as this will prevent anyone else from getting the emails in the long run.

Offline JohnG

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Re: Bouncing Emails - pesky errors
« Reply #2 on: December 04, 2008, 02:06:08 PM »
I use Hotmail and I have received all of them in my inbox. Not a single one has been put in my Junk/Spam box.
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