Notification of updates to subscribed threads.

[aczlan]

Thanks bbirder,
Well, it seems to NOT be my e-mail address, which I swapped earlier today.
It also seems to NOT be the "accept spam" setting that I set earlier today.
It also seems to NOT be my specific ISP, now that we have someone on AT&T with the same problem - two of us are on Earthlink, but two is few enough to only be a coincidence.

Could be, I would guess it to be your settings first though

So I am left wondering if there is a message traffic cop somewhere that looks at large e-mail distributions, identifies the senders as spammers and just dumps the messages, or blocks the sender.
Say, over 1,000 messages each with a distribution list larger than 500 ?
a formula a bit like that.

Yes, but AFAIK, the thread update emails are sent out individually, not to a group and the receiving email server (earthlink for example) only sees those sent to earthlink's customers, they don't see the messages that would go to someone using hotmail or gmail.

Are you subscribed to get email notification when you post to a thread? IIRC, the forum default is no subscription when you post. I have mine set to subscribe me (so that I can see all new subscribed threads by clicking on "My Home" when I pull up TBN), but I have most threads set to not email me.
If you click on "My Home" do you see new replies on the threads you are subscribed to? If not, you are probably not subscribed to them. To see your subscribed threads, click on the "My Home" link at the top of the page (#1 in the picture below). The threads to which you are subscribed that have unread posts will appear. If you want to see all the threads you are subscribed to, click on the "View All Subscribed Threads" link at the bottom of the list (#2).

That will take you to a list of all your subscribed threads (a screenshot of mine is below) and tell you if you are subscribed to them. If a thread does not show up on this page (or pages) you are not subscribed and will not get email notifications of updates.


Aaron Z

 

[Reg]

Thanks Aaron Z,
Yes, those are the settings that I have sweated over.
My list of subscribed threads at MyHome is intact and does get up-dated as the threads get updated.
That is how I have been following topics since (just after) this problem started.
I set my default to instant e-mail notification a while ago and as I type THIS reply I see that it is still set for THIS thread.

I admit to having forgotten that large distribution lists were a very early clue on spamming and spammers, obviously spammers and those with genuine need to make wide distributions have resorted to short lists (of 1 in some cases) and other techniques to avoid spam detectors.

Anyway, yesterday I got a FLOOD of spam of the sort that I hadn't seen in a long time.
I think I had started to believe that the net was winning, but much to my dismay there is more of this stuff still going around.
Nice to know that I have a little control on THAT switch at least (-:

 

[MossRoad]

Thanks Aaron Z,
Yes, those are the settings that I have sweated over.
My list of subscribed threads at MyHome is intact and does get up-dated as the threads get updated.
That is how I have been following topics since (just after) this problem started.
I set my default to instant e-mail notification a while ago and as I type THIS reply I see that it is still set for THIS thread.

I admit to having forgotten that large distribution lists were a very early clue on spamming and spammers, obviously spammers and those with genuine need to make wide distributions have resorted to short lists (of 1 in some cases) and other techniques to avoid spam detectors.

Anyway, yesterday I got a FLOOD of spam of the sort that I hadn't seen in a long time.
I think I had started to believe that the net was winning, but much to my dismay there is more of this stuff still going around.
Nice to know that I have a little control on THAT switch at least (-:

Here's a little eye-opener for you regarding spam...
We have about 300 e-mail accounts.
In the last 30 days our e-mail system averaged between 80-100 THOUSAND E_MAILS PER DAY! :confused2:
Of those, 94% were spam and rejected outright.
3% were suspected spam and sent on to the users with a spam tag.:thumbdown:
3% were legitimate e-mail.

Chances are if you have a large Internet Service Provider for your e-mail, and get some spam in your mailbox, you can pretty much be assured that you never saw over 90% of the spam that was attempting to get to you.

 

[Reg]

Here's a little eye-opener for you regarding spam...
We have about 300 e-mail accounts.
In the last 30 days our e-mail system averaged between 80-100 THOUSAND E_MAILS PER DAY! :confused2:
Of those, 94% were spam and rejected outright.
3% were suspected spam and sent on to the users with a spam tag.:thumbdown:
3% were legitimate e-mail.

Chances are if you have a large Internet Service Provider for your e-mail, and get some spam in your mailbox, you can pretty much be assured that you never saw over 90% of the spam that was attempting to get to you.

I accept that and it is not news to me, but when the senders are on my approved senders list I expect their messages to get through.
There are several of us that are subscribed to threads and have verified that our settings SHOULD cause notification of updates to be delivered to us.
I can't speak for the others, but from MY viewpoint it currently appears that the notifications are either not being sent out or are getting blocked/trashed/dumped somewhere along the way.
I am an active member on several other forums and I get regular updates on threads that I subscribe to, so I find it hard to believe that my account or my ISP is doing any blocking.

Thanks, I do appreciate your input.
As I said, it USED TO WORK, now it doesn't, so I am trying to help gather enough info to pin down what has changed where - then get it changed "back".

...and to think - I used to work for the company that had the dubious distinction of having sent out the first spam message (-:

 

[dfkrug]

As I said, it USED TO WORK, now it doesn't, so I am trying to help gather enough info to pin down what has changed where - then get it changed "back".

Just saw this thread. My notifications quit a couple of months ago. No
settings changed by me. My subscribed threads list is accurate. I have not
tried changing the settings, then changing them back. Have you?

 

[Reg]

Just saw this thread. My notifications quit a couple of months ago. No
settings changed by me. My subscribed threads list is accurate. I have not
tried changing the settings, then changing them back. Have you?

Going through old e-mail the most recent message from TBN was for a password reset about 3 months ago.
I don't remember why I needed that, maybe the changes that have been underway caused my auto login to get lost.
I cannot find a thread updated message, so those are archived off the system and it must have been 6 months or more since I got one.

Yes, I have tried unsetting, resetting, setting, switching and swapping just about everything that can have that done to it.
An alternate e-mail address in my profile didn't help, so I swapped back to original again, etc.
Nothing seems to stimulate whatever is no longer working to work the way it used to.

BTW, who is your ISP ?
So far we have members on both Earthlink and AT&T services experiencing this problem.

 

[Muhammad]

We are pretty sure that both AOL and AT&T are blocking us... we've attempted to get un-blocked from AOL for about two years without any luck (despite following their procedures, etc).

I hadn't heard of any Earthlink problems before...

 

[Redbug]

Thanks Reg for taking the ball and running with it. It would be nice to get this fixed.

Dfkrug...Mine also stopped about 2 months ago. Do you have Earthlink/Mindspring, by chance?

I did all the same double checks and could not find the problem on my end. I changed the notifications to another email address, (same provider...Earthlink), and did not get the notifications. Changed the email to my work address...(different provider), and the notifications came through OK. My spam filters were turned off, etc. Notifications from other forums get through OK.

 

[aczlan]

We get bounces at work from people with Earthlink all the time. That shouldn't be the case here being as Reg is checking his spam folder, but the bounces we get say "user xxxx@earthlink.net has enabled extra spam protection, please go to this address and fill out a form to verify that you are not a spammer"

Very annoying especially being as these are messages that they have requested (such as reminders that the library books which they have out are due soon or that they have books ready for pickup).

Reg: Have you tried switching to an address with another email provider such Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo? That would allow you to verify that you can get emails. If that works, I would call Earthlink, complain that they are blocking legitimate messages that you have requested and request that they whitelist TBN (at least for you)

Aaron Z

 

[Reg]

We get bounces at work from people with Earthlink all the time. That shouldn't be the case here being as Reg is checking his spam folder, but the bounces we get say "user xxxx@earthlink.net has enabled extra spam protection, please go to this address and fill out a form to verify that you are not a spammer"

Very annoying especially being as these are messages that they have requested (such as reminders that the library books which they have out are due soon or that they have books ready for pickup).

Reg: Have you tried switching to an address with another email provider such Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo? That would allow you to verify that you can get emails. If that works, I would call Earthlink, complain that they are blocking legitimate messages that you have requested and request that they whitelist TBN (at least for you)

Aaron Z

I have not tried a different provider.
What I want to AVOID is switching just for this, finding out that it isn't anything to do with my ISP and then switching back again.
Not JUST being selfish, I don't want all my mail to get diverted to a temporary account.

I might be able to use someone else's e-mail for a short while and have them autoforward everything to me. This would have to be someone who just about never uses their e-mail, never receives anything private or sensitive and trusts me to mess around with their computer for a day or two.
SURPRISE !!! No names spring to mind (-:

Yes Aaron, that "please fill out this form to become an authorized sender" message is a direct consequence of not being in someone's earthlink address book, but the messages still appear in the suspect email folder. a) TBN has been in my address book for many years b) The notifications aren't even getting to my suspect email folder.

Muhammad,
Is there any (reasonably easy) way you could search through the "We have been blocked by" list to see if earthlink shows up ? even once in a while ?
If so I would be HAPPY to beat on them from the customer end - heck it would be MY mail that they would be messing with (IF that is what is happeneing).

Thanks all,

\R