Catch-all Autoresponders Disabled & Spamcop Update

Catch-all autoresponders are being disabled right now, per the announcement on the 10th:

http://www.dreamhoststatus.com/2006/07/10/catch-all-auto-responders-to-be-disabled/

We ended up giving an extra week on this one, but we didn’t receive any volume of emails from folks this time around saying that they really depended on catch-all autoresponders, so we don’t expect any real problems. If you’re caught by surprise by this change, please read the prior announcement for the reasoning behind the change, and contact us afterward if you have questions.

SPAMCOP UPDATE:

As of our most recent Spamcop report at 10:22 AM (Pacific) we had 0 IPs listed in Spamcop, so this should not currently be a problem. However, this is an ongoing intermittent issue. When a block pops up, that IP will be blocked for 24 hours at which point it will be de-listed automatically. We cannot speed this up.

As a refresher - certain RBLs like Spamcop have ’spam traps’ set up that particularly prey on autoresponders and other potential forms of backscatter. We do not believe our recent issues with Spamcop to be caused by spam originating on our servers — but rather primarily due to Spamcop’s policies on autoresponders/backscatter. This change, as well as some other network-based changes that are in the works, are aimed at directly improving the amount of autoresponses to illegitimate email (that tends to auto-respond to an innocent third-party who had their email address spoofed by a spammer) and eventually backscatter as a whole. These are not simple changes to make as they affect potentially thousands of customers and our mail network’s architecture, and we thank you for your continued patience on this matter while we make steady steps toward resolving the issue as a whole.

As per usual, Webmail can be used to send on a different set of IPs, which should get through to Spamcop-protected addresses in the meantime, when a block is in effect. For those of you who have ISPs that will allow you to relay email as your domain, you may wish to try using their SMTP servers, temporarily.