I don't know what the problem has been lately but it seems that AOL is bouncing back to the webmaster account almost all of your email notifications of private messages and posts to favorite threads. Bet you've been wondering why you haven't been receiving them, eh? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif The most common reason for the bounce back has been:
[ QUOTE ]
Remote host said: 421-: (DNS:NR) http://postmaster.info.aol.com/errors/421dnsnr.html
421 SERVICE NOT AVAILABLE
[/ QUOTE ]
I am also receiving the same bounce backs from some Netscape email accounts because Netscape uses the AOL email system.
This is not a problem on CPF's end. It cannot be fixed from CPF's end. Until this problem resolves itself, (I would advise those of you with AOL and Netscape email accounts to contact them and ask them what the problem is) please take a moment and go to your account preferences (click on "My Home" in the top menubar), then click on the "Edit" button next to where it says, "Subscribe / Unsubscribe from receiving forum posts by email, change message notifications, etc.". Then be sure that "No" is selected for the top two radio button options which are, "Do you want email notifications when you receive private messages?" and "Do you want all replies to your favorite threads emailed to you?".
The reason I am asking you all to please do this is because all of those email notifications that get bounced back are hitting the webmaster email account... IOW, my inbox. And the server keeps attempting to send the email notifications to you for up to five days. I delete no less than 50 bounce backs each day right now. And they are all from AOL and/or Netscape email accounts. All with the same error message.
I really appreciate your cooperation in this until AOL and Netscape resolve their issue.
Yeah, thanx, because the browser is quite fine /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
bk
watt4
03-20-2005, 12:48 PM
sasha, you may be able to forward or blackhole those auto-responses, so you don't see them. see if your email package has an option to filter emails with a chosen subject or phrase or sender. then either forward them to a gmail account for archiving (no worries), or blackhole them (they go poof).
binky
03-20-2005, 04:21 PM
BTW -- for Netscape emails it's all .net not .com
I think that may have recently changed, where either would work before. I could be totally wrong about the historical.
gadget_lover
03-20-2005, 09:21 PM
I have a feeling that the problem does lie in the mail server used by CPF. I say this because I've noticed that I'm not getting any of my notices either. This started a week or so ago.
The message from AOL is saying that the address is not resolving back to a domain name. The SMTP standards require that the mail transfer systems have addresses that resolve both forward (name to IP number) and the reverse (IP address to name). Many ISPs don't accept mail from mail servers with an address that does not resolve.
I see that the second name server for CPF is listed as mail2.digitalprinceton.net, but that name does not resolve. I'm guessing that it's a broken record, and that it's being used to send outgoing mail.
I manage my own mail servers, so I can tell you it's not a netscape/AOL thing. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Sasha, I'll be glad to help you pinpoint the problem if you'd like me to. ALl I have to know the exact date and time that a message sent to me bounced, then I can look it up and tell you which address is not properly registered in the DNS. I'll be checking PM's periodically.
I can also look at the complete bounce message from other users, and I shoucl be able to decipher it.
Daniel
Greta
03-20-2005, 09:35 PM
gadget... thank you for you input... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif However, this really *IS* an AOL/Netscape issue. Because it's not consistant. I've contacted some of the members that this is happening to... believe it or not, there is only a small handfull of users whose email keeps bouncing. How many AOL and Netscape users do we have on CPF? And yet it is only maybe 5 or 6 of them who are having this problem. And it is sporadic. Sometimes they get the notifications and sometimes they don't. Some new members who register have no problem at all receiving their password withing minutes. Others never do get them... but I get them bounced back to me. No, this isn't a CPF issue... because if it was, it would effect ALL AOL and Netscape email users... and it doesn't... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif
gadget_lover
03-20-2005, 10:20 PM
Please check the PTR record for 209.67.62.187 on the authoritative DNS servers.
Daniel
Mags
03-21-2005, 11:52 AM
I have noticed this, but I dont mind since I always visit CPF before checking my mail. Other forums I am registered in dont seem to have this problem though. Those forums are all phpBB. Perhaps that is the problem? CPF is a UBB forum right?
gadget_lover
03-21-2005, 10:50 PM
The main name servers for CPF still don't resolve the address of the system used to send mail. If this message were shared with the DNS admins they should be able to fix the problem;
To DNS admin:
AOL (and others) will not accept mail from servers without valid PTR records. CPF is sending mail from 209.67.62.187 and there is no PTR in the 4 name servers listed in the root servers for 67.209.in-addr.arpa. I could not find a PTR record in the 3 DNS servers from digitalprinceton.net.
Daniel
dbs at the tanj.com domain.
gadget_lover
03-23-2005, 08:30 AM
I have not seen any progress on fixing the DNS. Are they just leaving it the way it is until the new site comes up?
If any of the admins woudl like, I would gladly check the DNS records for the new site from an external perspective. It's sometimes easier to see the problems from the outside.
Contact me via PM if desired. Mail from candlepowerforums.com is not making it through due to the DNS problem.
Daniel
Greta
03-23-2005, 08:45 AM
Daniel,
Thank you for your input and information... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
I've checked everything and from where I'm sitting and from where my tech guys are sitting, everything is exactly the way it should be and always has been. Don't know what you are looking at but as you don't have access to our server administrator control panel, I can understand why you perhaps aren't quite seeing everything that I am. Nothing has been changed on our end. This issue with AOL just came up about a month ago. In actuality, it has been happening periodically for well over a year. Usually, it lasts about a week then goes away. Again, with nothing changed on our end. Occasionally it also happens with earthlink... then goes away. It's always the same "usual suspects"... but manages to resolve itself in a short period of time.
This time however, it is not resolving itself. And as I said before, CPF has literally thousands of AOL users. Yet it is only maybe 4 or 5 accounts where their email gets bounced back to me. The same with Netscape mail and also with the occasional earthlink mail. It's always the same exact users. Never any new ones. If the problem were on my end as you have described it, none of this would be the case. Don't know what to tell you! But with migration and transfer currently being done, I'm not going to put any more time into this issue right now. I'll wait until the new software is up and running and then assess the situation again.
Again... thank you for your time and efforts.... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
gadget_lover
03-23-2005, 10:13 AM
The reason that I offered to hep is that
1) I do this professionally, and have for almost 15 years. The problem is very obvious and very easy to fix.
2) I can tell you what the rest of the world sees, whereas your local team is seeing it from "the inside". This will often blind them to some DNS configuration problems. It is what the rest of the world sees that counts when you run a BBS.
If you don't want to pursue it for the UBBS version, I don't mind, but if you have the same server dudes do things the same way on the new system the problem will continue.
And that's why I offered to help /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
BTW, you do have more people impacted than you recognize. Mail to tanj.com from the candlepowerforums.com mail server is rejected too. The error message is slightly different. I run my own mail server and know exactly when it fails. Last night at 9:04PM a message was refused with "Error: 550 5.7.1 We don't accept mail from unresolved addresses"
I suspect that the reason you see the AOL and Earthlink bounces is because they accept the mail, then create a bounce to the sender. My system (and many, many others) refuse to accept the mail, so it's up to your software to create the bounce message. It's likely that the message is either not generated or routed to an ignored mailbox.
Jest tryin ta hep, Ma'am.
Daniel
Empath
03-23-2005, 11:41 AM
DNSReport indicates an MX error. (http://www.dnsreport.com/tools/mail.ch?domain=candlepowerforums.com) I noticed that the other day when I was checking something else, but didn't say anything since I've never had a problem receiving anthing from it. Since the domain is parked on DigitalPrinceton's server, I don't know why a MX record is even being used if they're the ones providing the email service, since MX records are ordinarily used to redirect email services to somewhere other than where it's parked.
Just something I noticed. As for whether it works, even if it shouldn't, it works for me.
gadget_lover
03-23-2005, 04:16 PM
Actually, MX records are used for every mail delivery. Mail servers can optionally deliver mail to a server that matches the domain if there is no MX record.
There are two problems shown;
1) mail2.digitalprinceton.net. 40 [No IP found]
2) mail.candlepowerforums.com is a CNAME for candlepowerforums.com. This is not allowed per the standards.
Daniel
Mags
03-23-2005, 04:51 PM
Hmm i remember the error page of too many connections, it said that only moderators were able to see the problem. Can someone here share that?
gadget_lover
03-24-2005, 08:53 AM
Mags, that's a totally different problem. Sasha's already addressed that.
Daniel
RickT
06-11-2005, 11:32 PM
Instead of sifting through all the posts about AOL bouncing posts sent, I thought I would check up to see if the problem has been fixed. If not, let me know and we can work together to resolve this issue, OK?
Ummm,,,It is best to send an email. I guess I am one of the persons the posts are bouncing from.
Thanks
Rick
TorchMan
08-09-2005, 04:55 PM
This might explain why my attempts to join using an AOL email address were never succesful, I tried for a day or two. I checked my AOL spam folder and everything, no response. Hotmail went through the first time.
fluorescent
08-09-2005, 08:29 PM
[ QUOTE ]
gadget_lover said:
Actually, MX records are used for every mail delivery...
[/ QUOTE ]
That depends on the MTA...
Beginning with V8.8 sendmail first checks to see whether the F=0 flag is set for the selected delivery agent. If it is set, sendmail skips looking up MX records.
Many older MTAs on the network ignore MX records, and some Sun sites wrongly run the non-MX version of sendmail.
Other examples exist... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
I would like to see a rejected header if anyone has one /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
