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AOL Postmaster and the Feedback Loop

August 13th, 2009

My company runs our own mail servers, and recently one of our IP addresses was blocked by AOL. Because I've always found AOL to be for the non-technical, I've had a non-technical perspective of the company at large, despite being a fan of AOL Server and its TCL awesomeness.

I must say that I'm impressed with their postmaster support, and how they handle incoming e-mails. First off, there is a customer support request form for the error I was receiving:

(DYN:T1)  http://postmaster.info.aol.com/errors/421dynt1.html 421 SERVICE NOT AVAILABLE

I sent them this information:

"We serve email and web hosting to about one dozen companies with separate domain names, as well as one bulk mailing list for one client. The bulk emails include a link and information to opt-out, and only customers who opt-in are added to the list.

We employ SPF records, and only allow authenticated users to send outgoing mail."

After submitting that form, I found that they have a few other support options, including postmaster guidelines and a white list.

Given how much of the internet is starting to depend upon the ip addresses for reputation and credibility, I sincerely hope that IPv6 gets its rear-in-gear!

Note: I forgot that since my email gateway uses a sub-domain of my primary domain name, I had to setup my feedback loop (FBL) abuse address on that sub-domain. The reverse nameserver lookup resolves to that sub-domain, so I think my FBL will now be approved.

Yes! I was approved! :-) I was denied on the pass listing request, because of the current block. I'll have to wait for the block to get removed before I can apply for pass listing again.

Feedback loop explanation at wikipedia

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