It is my hope that the approximately 10% of you who have haven’t seen Logical Tips for the last two weeks actually get it this week.
Yes, I dutifully sent it out the last two Fridays, just like I always do. But unfortunately, our mail server got caught in some evil web of filtering. The problem stems from the fact that if just one person decides (or more accurately forgets) that he or she didn’t sign up to receive an ezine or other e-mail, everyone loses.
It’s fairly easy to go to a site like www.DNSStuff.com and look up your mail server. After I got an unreasonable number of bounces on Logical Tips, I did just that. And according to DNSStuff, our mail server somehow became listed on something called the Composite Blocking List which a bunch of filtering tools use to determine what e-mail is noxious and shouldn’t go into your inbox. The information link also claimed that your server can be listed if the mail server has been compromised with some type of virus.
So I sent an e-mail to my hosting company. They are a reputable company and go to extraordinary lengths to update and patch their servers so they remain secure while the bad guys stay out. It’s not like they are running some shady sleaze operation. As it turns out, they already have extensive anti-virus protection that they installed at "considerable expense." (I hate to think what that means.)
Apparently, the sad news is that now it doesn’t take a virus to get listed on one of these blocking clearinghouse sites. All it takes is for some whiner to complain that they got mail they didn’t expect and boom, the whole server is listed again. Consequently, ISPs are endlessly applying for de-listing so the other subscribers can actually GET their e-mail. This all is such a huge waste of time for so many people, it absolutely infuriates me.
Unfortunately, there’s nothing I can do about it. As my hosting company pointed out, "if we had a better idea of who is reporting us, we could take some action, but an unknown is hard to deal with." He’s right.
So with that in mind, here are two recommendations:
1) If you don’t see Logical Tips in your inbox, know that it is always available online at http://www.logicaltips.com.
2) If you don’t want to receive the ezine, please go to the Web site and unsubscribe. The ezine is never sent unsolicited, and we don’t rent our lists to anyone. We aren’t doing anything nefarious, bad, or illegal, so don’t report us. It’s not fair.
I don’t want to have to stop sending out this ezine because it helps a lot of people (they tell me this all the time). So I and the thousands of people who DO want to receive Logical Tips thank you for your cooperation.