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email notifications - cause spam blocks?

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ethan View Drop Down
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    Posted: 09 March 2007 at 6:13am
Hi, has anyone had problems being listed on cbl.abuseat.org after running the forum software?
 
This site doesn't list open relays and I do not send spam.
It claims to only list ip addresses that are infected with a virus/spyware.
 
I've run cleaners and the av software on the machine says it's clean.
 
It may have something to do with the speed in which the forum software sends out email notifications (no pauses)... and therefore looks like a worm / spyware.... ?
 
Any ideas are appreciated.
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote WebWiz-Bruce Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 March 2007 at 12:08pm
The mail server this site uses is the same mail server as a 100 Web Wiz Forums installations use and has not been blacklisted.

Check that your mail server is setup properly, although the mail server may not be setup as an open relay spammers can find other ways to bouce spam off your server.

It's worth checking your mail server log files and SMTP server queue regularly for anything that looks dodgy.

I've recently come across a problem where by a contact us form on a site using CDOSYS didn't check what was in the subject filled of the contact us form and used this as the subject of the email. Spammers abused this by placing a long list of BCC entries into the contact us subject field which tricked CDOSYS in to sending 1000's of spams as BCC (Blind Carbon Copies) from the contact us form.

Your log files and queues should give you indications if a spammer has found a way to send spam through your SMTP server. Also if you are using IIS SMTP server ebfore your main SMTP server check that is locked down.
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ethan View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ethan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 March 2007 at 9:00pm

Could you give me a quick overview of how the forum sends email notifications (not the mass mailer)?

Since there's no scheduled process that sends the emails behind the scenes, what triggers the notifications to be sent?
 
Could you tell me the main file that handles this process?
I'd like to make some changes.
 
Thank you.
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ethan View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ethan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 March 2007 at 11:33pm
-- If you're requiring user email validation and most people in your list are using it, this post probably doesn't apply to you. --
 
 
I'm not blaming the forum software but if you're running it and:
 
1) You're not requiring email validation for your users and/or
2) for some reason you have a non-spam list that potentially has many fake emails
 
(depending on your audience, up to 50% may not be savvy enough to click on validation links)
 
Due to the way the forum sends the emails (without pauses) there's a good chance you'll end up on the composite block list (cbl) because this behavior looks like a virus or trojan.
 
If anyone is facing the same problem, here's what I did to solve it:
 
1) Modified all code that sends emails.  Instead of letting the forum software send the emails all at once, I store the message parameters in a database table for future sending.
 
2) I use a mailing program to send my emails by connecting to that table.  Gammadyne Mailer in my case.  I've been using it for years and it's extremely robust and reliable (and highly configurable).
 
Gammadyne can:
- Pause after each email sent.  I set the pause for at least a few seconds.  You can also setup a windows task to send the emails every hour or so.
 
- Store the message failures into a db or text file (so you don't keep sending to bad emails)
 
Problem solved!
 
 
By the way, I narrowed the problem down to the forum software by:
1) Launching a brand new server (obviously free of viruses and trojans).
2) Configuring a firewall.
3) installing only the forum software.
4) I ended up in the cbl.
 
Since I made the changes described above, I've not been listed in the cbl so it is a valid solution.
 
Again, I'm not blaming the forum software.  Aside from the way it sends emails, it looks like good software.  Even the way it sends emails isn't so bad considering many people can run it "out of the box" with their hosting provider (without additional configs and programming).
 
If you're having blacklisting issues and you have a dedicated server and some technical experience, try out my solution.
 
Hope this helps someone else...
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