godaddy email and other problems

[jahlmann]

Godaddy moved us to a new private, dedicated server. We are now using WHN cPanel. Yes, our IP address changed as well.

When we uploaded a change to our system, using FileZilla, it would not work. Uploading the change to the old server, the change worked. Godaddy simply kept telling us that we just had errors in our script. Errors? works on the old server and not on the new one? Well, I finally figured out that I had to upload in "Binary" mode. Not ASCII, not Auto.

Since the move to the new server, a number of customers are complaining they are not receiving our automated email messages i.e for new student signed up or student has completed the course. As I said above a number of customers don't get the messages, others do. It looks like @gmail.com, @yahoo.com and @.com no problem. Others such as @hushmail.com, @ bak.rr.com, @Comcast.net do not get the mail.

Here is the php code I am using:

$to = $eMailAddr;
$subject = "New Student registered for: Driver's Ed - on the Net™";
$message = "to: $SchoolName\r
$NameFirst $NameInitial $NameLast has registered for $Product\r
with a username of: $SLoginID\r
and a password of : $SPassWord\r
Product: $Product ($Description)\r
High School..: $HighSchool";
$headers = 'From: [e-mail]' . "\r\n" .
'X-Mailer: PHP/' . phpversion();
$mailsend = mail($to, $subject, $message, $headers);

Any help is very much appreciated.

[NogDog]

The fact that some get it and some don't smells a lot like spam-blockers taking effect. Maybe the new IP is in a range that some of those mail hosts are blocking?

[jahlmann]

hmmmmm for a moment let's assume you are correct. What's the answer to the problem. How can I correct that. What struck me strange is that @gmail and @yahoo don't seem to have a problem. It seems like "local" providers may have created this problem i.e. @Comcast.net @bak.rr.com. Neither one is a small "local" outfit either. I have one customer who has his hosting done by godaddy and he does not get any emails either.

[NogDog]

I'll admit to not being very savvy about this. One solution would be to outsource your emailing to a 3rd-party service that specializes in keeping its domains and IPs "clean". I don't know what the costs are for such services (nor what sort of email quantity we're talking about here, which would probably affect the cost). Maybe someone else here will respond with something better. 🙂

[jahlmann]

Using a third party does not appear to be an answer for me as it probably would mean a "Major" re-write. Perhaps somebody knows something about spam filters and could give me a clue how to circumvent these filters. I understand, all these spammers out there would like to know this as well. What exactly do you mean by "... in keeping its domains and IPs "clean"?

[NogDog]

Basically, if, say, Comcast detects spam (rightly or wrongly) coming from 123.123.123.* domains, it might set up a filter (or just as likely some service they use sets it up) to block that IP range. An email service (at least a good one) will try to keep on top of those filters and proactively work with those that are filtering them to unfilter their domains. Additionally, they will monitor the email traffic from their users to watch for spammy activity and warn/terminate accounts that risk getting their domains blocked -- otherwise why would anyone want to unblock them?

[NogDog]

Oh, you might also consider using PHPMailer or Swiftmailer in your script, as they are good at setting up all the mail headers you should probably have, which can have an impact on some filters, too. In fact, should it be necessary, you can use them to send your email via an external email account.

[jahlmann]

One more piece to the puzzle which I should have mentioned. Let's say, when a student has finished my course, the system sends an email to the driving school he had signed up with (does not arrive) and it sends one to me (does arrive). I get the messages through Outlook and my IP is Charter. Now, I forward the message to the driving school, using the same email address the system had used, it arrives. My email account is hosted where system is hosted. Is it that my personal computer IP address is being accepted by the IP's and the system IP address is not? Is there something in the email header that indicates it is a "system" generated message?

Now, having said all that, please remember that I had no problems sending system generated email messages with the "old" server but, I have problems with the "new" server. I still think that godaddy has something on the new server that creates the problem. (See ftp problem above). But, what could it be?

[NogDog]

You could try sending it via your (working) email address and use a reply-to header. At least it might provide some difference?

$headers = "From: [e-mail]\r\n" .
"Reply-To: [e-mail]\r\n" .
'X-Mailer: PHP/' . phpversion() . "\r\n" .
"MIME-Version: 1.0\r\n" .
"Content-Type: text/plain; charset=charset=iso-8859-1";

[Derokorian]

When I was on godaddy most of my emails got filtered to spam folders - you should make sure users are checking that folder if an email "does not arrive." I ended up using PHPMailer so that I could send email from gmail servers instead of godaddy servers and this resolved all my problems (mainly because a: it came from a trusted location (gmail) and b: it had all the proper header values). My guess, especially since the emails arrive when using outlook, is that your headers aren't set properly and the receiving server sees something like From: [e-mail] but then also see a trace of the email coming from mail.godaddy.com (or something) and seeing these values not match, means they think its spam.

As for the IP thing, its highly probable you share an IP with a spammer since you're sending from godaddy.

[dalecosp]

GoDaddy's servers are cheap, and lots of people try to do marketing with them; the IP addresses used by their servers end up on all kinds of RBL (Realtime Blackhole Lists, used by mail security software to identify spam). Probably the IP address you received was previously owned by someone who sent a lot of UBE (Unsolicited Bulk Email). Look for some RBL sites (spamhaus was one ... dunno if they're still out there or not) and see if your IP or IP netblock are listed there. Basically that's what NogDog means about keeping your IP's "clean". (It means not spamming, and there are a lot of people who don't really understand what that means. Many times they are our bosses ;-) )

If they are, you're going to have to make a very good case to the RBL's that you're not a spammer. It might be easier to get a new IP from GoDaddy, but there's little guarantee that it won't also be on a RBL or two; which means you might need to look for another hosting solution. Or, as someone suggested, look into a 3rd party email provider. I doubt it's really so hard to switch; you might even be able to use a smarthost/forwarding solution from your native app (e.g., fool the server into sending its mail via your mail provider's network while thinking it's the local mailer doing the work).