XF 1.3 Microsoft is blocking my emails!

NeoCHI

Active member
So I recently moved to KH and ever since I've been having multiple emailing issues. Atfirst all my emails sent to gmail and yahoo were getting filtered as spam along with microsoft and aol blocking them completely. On top of that apparently my new server's IPs were on multiple spam blacklists...

After about a week of wrestling with this issue, we've now resolved all of them except for Microsoft blocking my emails. They've unblocked me multiple times (3), only to reblock me couple days after.

The error message returned by them is:

host mx1.hotmail.com [65.55.92.184]: 550 OU-002 (SNT004-MC4F31) Unfortunately, messages from 11.11.111.111 weren't sent. Please contact your Internet service provider since part of their network is on our block list. You can also refer your provider to http://mail.live.com/mail/troubleshooting.aspx#errors.

Looking that error up on their site shows:

Mail rejected by Outlook.com for policy reasons. Reasons for rejection may be related to content with spam-like characteristics or IP/domain reputation. If you are not an email/network admin please contact your Email/Internet Service Provider for help.

Basically, the issue seems to still revolve around my new server's IPs having a bad reputation because of it's previous owners. What can I do about this? Is it some other problem?
 
Maybe your IP is clean but a near IP on the same network segment is spamming like crazy and that's why you're getting filtered...

When I had this problem years ago I remember I filled a form and then it got solved... but since you said that you have been blocked 3 times I guess you have already filled that form...

What does the KH support team says about this problem?
 
They've mainly tried to play the blame game and put it on my sites. I just keep telling them that it's impossible since I never had the issue on my previous hosting site and that all my sites are forums so I'm not sending spam... It's sooo frustrating...

I'll ask about the IP segment.
 
Do you have SPF and DKIM records for your domain? If so, did you update the IP's in those entries when you changed servers?
Hotmail and Live seem to be finicky about that. I had some issues with Hotmail rejecting forum email before I set up SPF and DKIM on my domain.
 
As @SamL said, you need to make sure that your SPF and DKIM and RDNS are correct. Not only that, the Hotmail rep I talked to said the simple fact of an IP change can cause it to start hitting their filter.
 
Do you have SPF and DKIM records for your domain? If so, did you update the IP's in those entries when you changed servers?
Hotmail and Live seem to be finicky about that. I had some issues with Hotmail rejecting forum email before I set up SPF and DKIM on my domain.

I have both setup on the new servers. Funny thing is i didn't have these setup on my old servers and didn't have any issues.

As @SamLthe Hotmail rep I talked to said the simple fact of an IP change can cause it to start hitting their filter.

What can i do about that then? Its been over 2 weeks now on my new server and its still havings issues. Gmail and yahoo filtering my emails as spam did fix itself though.
 
What did you do to get it fixed? Just wait for reputation to build?
You can fill out the MS Sender Information Form to request that they conditionally mitigate by unblocking your IP's. After that, they may set a low limit on sent daily mails until trust builds, but at least it puts you in touch with them directly. They will investigate and provide you with the reasons you are being blocked.
 
Last edited:
You can fill out the MS Sender Information Form to request that they conditionally mitigate by unblocking your IP's. After that, they may set a low limit on sent daily mails until trust builds, but at least it puts you in touch with them directly. They will investigate and provide you with the reasons you are being blocked.

This is what they replied last time:

Hello,

My name is Rupa and I work with the Outlook.com Deliverability Support Team.

We have reviewed your IP ( 67.222.158.202 ) and determined that messages are being filtered based on the recommendations of the SmartScreen® Filter.

Email filtering is based on many factors, but primarily it's due to mail content and recipient interaction with that mail. Because of the proprietary nature of SmartScreen® and because SmartScreen® Filter technology is always adapting and learning more about what is and isn't unwanted mail, it is not possible for us to offer specific advice about improving your mail content. However, in general SmartScreen® Filter evaluates specific words or characteristics from each e-mail message and weights them, based on their likelihood to indicate that a message is unwanted or legitimate mail.

Unfortunately, after reviewing the information you provided and in compliance with our mail policies, we are unable to offer immediate mitigation for your deliverability issue. However, we have some specific recommendations for you to consider that can help you to improve deliverability over time.

Here are some specific recommendations for you to consider:

Brand your mail
Ensure mails are cleanly formatted and clearly identifiable as originating from your service.

Follow content and formatting best practices
There are numerous Internet resources which offer advice and best practices, we recommend you refer to these resources for assistance creating well formatted and more deliverable email.

Highlight Opt In

Clearly mark your emails so that Windows Live Outlook.com customers are able to identify that they requested or subscribed to emails from your service.

Ensure your email lists are up to date
Remove those who do not want to receive the emails and consider making the unsubscribe process more visible to ensure you are only delivering mail to interested recipients.

Join the Junk Mail Reporting Program (JMRP)
We believe that your recipients are the best indicator that the email you are sending is wanted. The JMRP program allows you to see which of your emails Outlook.com users have marked as junk or unwanted mail. Reviewing the results in JMRP will provide to the most direct information on what characteristics of your email, customers, and ultimately SmartScreen®, consider to be unwanted. This helpful feedback mechanism allows you to ensure that mails being sent from your IP are not resulting in negative feedback that could impact your sending reputation. Being vigilant about users who mark your e-mail as unwanted or the types of messages that are being marked as unwanted can help you keep mailing lists updated with only interested users and modify future campaigns. In addition, monitoring user complaints can help you identify unintended mail traffic or detect a potentially compromised account sending unwanted mail to your customers. Enroll at https://support.msn.com/eform.aspx?productKey=edfsjmrpp&ct;=eformts.

Join the Smart Network Data Services program (SNDS)

The SNDS program provides data about traffic seen originating from your registered IP, such as mail volume and complaint rates. The data is built from the log files of the inbound mail machines and other servers at Outlook.com and Microsoft and represents factual information about the traffic from your mail servers to Outlook.com users. For more information about this free program refer to https://postmaster.live.com/snds/FAQ.aspx. To register, please go to http://postmaster.msn.com/snds/. (Tip: As part of the enrollment process, you are asked to sign the JMRP program agreement and then send a response to Support indicating that it has been signed. It's not uncommon for that step in the enrollment process to be missed.)

We encourage you to take an active role in managing your email practices and infrastructure. The SmartScreen® filter is not static and it is possible to improve deliverability over time. Implementing and maintaining email best practices such as those described above can help.

We also encourage you to download and apply the industry best practices found in our Outlook.com Enhanced Deliverability white paper.

Other then the last two items about joining those two programs, Xenforo's default emails should have no content issues...so there really wasn't much direction there.
 
What did you do to get it fixed? Just wait for reputation to build?
That, and sent them a reply that it was no big deal - that I would just totally disallow the use of any Hotmail/Live/Outlook domain account to be used to register on any of my sites until I could confirm that they were going through and not being marked as spam. :D
I also have my sender set as do_not_reply for the name.
 
That, and sent them a reply that it was no big deal - that I would just totally disallow the use of any Hotmail/Live/Outlook domain account to be used to register on any of my sites until I could confirm that they were going through and not being marked as spam. :D
I also have my sender set as do_not_reply for the name.

Wow, that's big of you. Didn't you lose out on alot of members then?

Even doing that much it took you months....jeez I can't believe this is such a hassle and somehow I was able to completely avoid this on my last hosting.
 
Wow, that's big of you. Didn't you lose out on alot of members then?
Considering I get very few registrations - nope
Even doing that much it took you months....jeez I can't believe this is such a hassle and somehow I was able to completely avoid this on my last hosting.
Your reputation with them is probably based on your old IP. Once you got a new IP then it sent up some warning flags with them.
 
So it looks like it's Symantec's Brightmail that keeps blocking my server and because Microsoft uses their list I then get blocked by Microsoft's emails.

I've been unlisted and relisted 3 times now. So I've come up with a new idea. Anyone know what the sql query is to turn off all thread notifications for all user's that have a certain email account (ie: hotmail, outlook, msn, live). Also, what would be the the sql query to turn off all pm notifications with the same requirement on email address.

I'm thinking of turning these off for awhile so I can build reputation with them then turning them back on.
 
Top Bottom