Forwarding email to other Providers (A WARNING)
The following contains important information on the new dangers of email
forwarding. Please read it over carefully before forwarding any
of your email (esp to America online and Comcast addresses, as well as others, see list below).
What is mail forwarding?
Mail forwarding is the process of forwarding email from one email
address to another. This is designed to be a temporary measure
and not a permanent one. For instance, if you have an email
address or alias on a server here called rabbit@myserver.com and you
want to forward all mail sent to it to an AOL address, for example:
sample@aol.com
Why should I never forward email to an AOL or Comcast address, among
others:
Several providers (the major ones being AOL and Comcast)
recently have enacted new rules. If you forward an email address
to them, you will ban your domain from sending to them in total.
This may seem rediculous and we happen to agree, but nevertheless it is
now fact.
When you forward email, ALL MAIL SENT TO THAT ALIAS IS FORWARDED, this
includes common spam that may be sent to that alias. The
receiving server (ie AOL or Comcast) looks at all those forwarded spams
and labels each one as being spams coming from you, not the actual
spammer. They do not look at the email headers to determine the
actual origination point. They instead look at the last server
the mail came from. Thus if you forward an alias or box to these
providers you spam yourself. And these providers will take action
and ban you from sending to them.
What will happen if I continue to forward email to these providers?
Your domain will QUICKLY stop being able to send to these
providers in total. You may also have problems getting email from
these providers. You will blacklist yourself and this may already be
happening to you. It just takes a few spam messages to do
it. Thus protect yourself now.
What can I do to protect myself?
Without delay, remove all AOL or Comast forwards from your
email definitions. Users should setup a mailbox directly on the
server here and check email directly here instead of forwarding.
Many email programs included Eudora and Oulook can check multiple
mailboxes at the same time. Or those users should be emailed
directly. There is no way to avoid it!
Is this happening with other providers too?
Yes, we have reports and reason to believe other providers
may be adopting this rule. Among them Road Runner, Cox, Earthlink.
Does this have anything to do with the server configurations at
WEBCS.COM?
No. Our servers are no different from any providers
servers. We, not any other provider, can do anything about
this. This is happening to EVERYONE and every server on the
internet who forwards to these providers.