said by gdm :

This isn't a ATT problem it's yahoo's. Yahoo controls the mail not ATT. So the ATT techs really have no clue what is going on.

quote:

---

Final-Recipient: RFC822; /******@ameritech.net/
Action: failed
Status: 5.1.3
Remote-MTA: dns; aitmx5.prodigy.net (207.115.37.20)
Diagnostic-Code: smtp; 553 5.3.0 nlpi009,DNSBL:521/ 213.46.255.22 /_is_blocked.__See_»www.att.net/bls_rbl/_for_information.

---

said by Lizz :

No way would I ever think of waiting 29 days to check my bulk folder. There would have been 1,000+ spam messages and probably 20 or so non-spam emails. I have always checked the bulk folder each and EVERY time I checked for "real" email!!

It would have been nice if my "missing support email" had even made it to my bulk folder. It got blocked long before that. I can deal with spam; I canNOT deal with not receiving critical email.

Options:
•[x]Allow messages to be sent from this address
•[ ]Use Filters [What's this?]
•[ ]Use SpamGuard Plus

I believe that should turn off filtering for mail coming into that address only.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20207637 Sat, 22 Mar 2008 13:57:33 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20207424 jsinaiko : I'm though. Bye.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20207424 Sat, 22 Mar 2008 13:06:45 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20207397 nwrickert :

OK, believe that it is conspiracy.

Where did I say anything about conspiracy?

You keep on saying that a major change has occurred because they are now "massively blocking spam."

Yes. I'm sorry to see that you are still in denial about this.

Exactly what do you think they were doing before? Ignoring spam? Please.

Some spam was being rejected by AT&T, with the use of block lists. But, mostly, mail recognized as spam was being put in the bulk folder.

And also, do you believe that there are both ATT and Yahoo filters?

If you have paid attention to this forum, there are occasional threads about mail being blocked by AT&T. In the past, most of the filtering has been done by Yahoo but with some blocking by AT&T.

But now we have a change. I cannot tell where the change is.

Mail to my 'ameritech.net' address comes initially to an AT&T managed server. From there it is passed along to Yahoo. So both AT&T and Yahoo have opportunities to filter/block the email to prevent me from seeing it. I don't know which one of then has made a major change. Whichever it is, I think we should have been informed.

Sure, it is also possible that the spammers have conspired to boycott AT&T, and stop sending spam to AT&T users. But I discount that as highly unlikely.

If you think there is some sort of change involving "massively blocking spam" it might be helpful if you explained exactly what you think this change entails.

If I knew what had changed, I wouldn't be asking here.

I'm no huge fan of ATT but you aren't making much sense. Of course there is a filter to set.

Oh s**t. Do I have to go through this again? Can you try thinking this through before giving me the third degree?

I have already made clear that I was previously getting 70-80 spam per day. I would not be getting that if I had set the Yahoo spam filter to delete spam on arrival. I have it set to put spam in the bulk folder, and retain for 30 days. My bulk folder size has been consistently between 2200 and 3000 messages for some time. Since Monday, I have received only one nor two bulk messages per day.

I repeat, whatever has changed, it isn't any filter that I have any control over. It is happening somewhere in the deep recesses of AT&T or Yahoo. And we haven't been told about it.

And keep on posting in boldface. That will certainly cause AT&T to respond.

I am using bold face to try getting it through to you. I don't know why you are still in denial about this.
--
AT&T dsl; Westell 327w modem/router; SuSE 10.1; firefox 2.0.0.12]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20207397 Sat, 22 Mar 2008 13:00:15 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20207195 jsinaiko : OK, believe that it is conspiracy. And keep on posting in boldface. That will certainly cause AT&T to respond.

You keep on saying that a major change has occurred because they are now "massively blocking spam."

Exactly what do you think they were doing before? Ignoring spam? Please.

And also, do you believe that there are both ATT and Yahoo filters? I don't think so. It is all Yahoo.

If you think there is some sort of change involving "massively blocking spam" it might be helpful if you explained exactly what you think this change entails.

I'm no huge fan of ATT but you aren't making much sense. Of course there is a filter to set. You can either have all mail that is labeled "spam" deleted upon its arrival or you can have it put into the spam folder - this is right in the options section of the webmail interface. If it is put into the spam folder you won't lose it - you just have to check the folder before you delete its contents. Not rocket science. This isn't about my "denial."
--
Illegitimati non carborundum
]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20207195 Sat, 22 Mar 2008 12:18:18 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20207106 nwrickert :

What would that change be?

Obviously, either AT&T or Yahoo has started massively blocking spam.

I'd be surprised if there was a change - I've seen this before.

That there has been a major change is obvious, even if you are in denial.

I just think the filters have been tweaked and are working better.

A change from 40 spam to 3 spam is obviously a major change.

Of course the filters often catch real mail too - that's why I NEVER set them to just delete.

But it is not your filters. It is either AT&T filters or Yahoo filters (will somebody please 'fess up, and tell us whose filters), and those filters are set to delete. So now you have lost all control, and have no ability to deal with real mail that is caught in the filters. You don't even know whether to complain to AT&T or to Yahoo.

So - if you are worried about not getting "real" mail, just set the filter to not delete and check your spam folder.

There isn't any filter I can set. These are not appearing in my spam box. If any real mail is being blocked, then there is no way I know of to find out about that.

To repeat:

A major change in mail handling has been made somewhere. We have not been informed about this change. We do not know whether the change was made by AT&T or by Yahoo.
--
AT&T dsl; Westell 327w modem/router; SuSE 10.1; firefox 2.0.0.12]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20207106 Sat, 22 Mar 2008 11:55:35 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20206869 jsinaiko : What would that change be?

I'd be surprised if there was a change - I've seen this before.

This morning I had three in my junk mail folder whereas in the very recent past I'd have forty every morning. I just think the filters have been tweaked and are working better. Of course the filters often catch real mail too - that's why I NEVER set them to just delete.

At some point in the next few weeks the spammers - remember, according to the experts, there are only a few hundred major spammers out there in the world - they'll figure out what the filters are doing and it'll get back to "normal" and we'll all have hundreds per day again.

So - if you are worried about not getting "real" mail, just set the filter to not delete and check your spam folder. This is SOP all the time anyhow. Everyone knows that sometimes the filters get a bit over-enthusiastic and that real mail sometimes ends up there. Anyone who doesn't check his/her junk mail or spam folder before deleting the contents hasn't been paying attention for the past seven or eight years.

Yes - it's a pain in the ass, but so are a lot of little things we can't do anything about.

Are you thinking that because there isn't muchin your spam folder that real mail is lost somewhere?
--
Illegitimati non carborundum
]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20206869 Sat, 22 Mar 2008 10:55:38 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20206506 nwrickert : I am still getting some spam.

I just checked this morning, and there was one spam message in my bulk folder. Previously, I would have expected 70 or more.

Let me be a bit clearer here. I am not complaining about the lack of spam. If spam would magically go away, that would be great.

What bothers me, is that there has been a big change somewhere. Whereas spam used to show up in my bulk folder, most of it no longer shows up at all. Since this is not happening to mail I received elsewhere, I have to conclude that there has been a change at either AT&T or Yahoo.

Why have we not been told about this change?

It seems that we are being given the mushroom treatment - keep them in the dark, and feed them horse manure.

At the very least, we are owed a full explanation of what has changed, why it has changed, and whether we can do anything about it to ensure that important email still gets through.
--
AT&T dsl; Westell 327w modem/router; SuSE 10.1; firefox 2.0.0.12]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20206506 Sat, 22 Mar 2008 08:59:08 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20206467 wptski : I'm still getting SPAM from a address of @yahoo.com.uk addressed to @jahoo.com(not a typo) with the username similiar to mine.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20206467 Sat, 22 Mar 2008 08:39:40 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20206059 Lizz : No way would I ever think of waiting 29 days to check my bulk folder. There would have been 1,000+ spam messages and probably 20 or so non-spam emails. I have always checked the bulk folder each and EVERY time I checked for "real" email!!

It would have been nice if my "missing support email" had even made it to my bulk folder. It got blocked long before that. I can deal with spam; I canNOT deal with not receiving critical email.

I've reported the details to the "good guys" in the Direct forum as requested.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20206059 Sat, 22 Mar 2008 02:26:57 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20206003 StillLearn : There are a few alternative ways for the person who uses an email
client to help the problem of some received ATT-Yahoo emails
getting treated as spam, and being left only on the web mail site.

1. SpamGuard is on by default. Check the "Bulk" folder on web
mail interface every 29 days or less. If you find wanted email
there, add the address to your web mail address book.

2. If you use a real email program, set SpamGard to put all
emails into the inbox, but to mark suspected spam by modifying the
subject with a "[BULK] prefix. That Subject could be used as a
factor in your email program's junk filtering.

3. Use AddressGuard for your SBC Yahoo email. In this system you
can give different addresses to different people or groups. You
can also opt to turn off spam filtering, or not, for each
AddressGuard address. The emails come in to your regular mailbox,
but the To field will contain the address the sender used. If the
address you gave your sister starts getting spam, delete that
address and give your sister the new email address that you make
for her to use. You can have a different email address to use for
rebates or mailing lists. You can have over a hundred such
addresses. If you want more info on AddressGuard, say so.

The downside is that these are @yahoo.com addresses. Ideally, you
would only give out the spam guard addresses. It is probably
a bit late for that with your existing address, which will continue
to work if you don't change it. But you could let the filtering
continue on those addresses, and set up AddressGuard addresses that
bypass filtering. This is all based on my current understanding
and I could be mistaken on some portion. I do use several
AddressGuard addresses without problem.

One more thing: the address that you give you domain registrar gets
put into a publicly accessible database that is mined for spam.
That would be a good use for an AddressGuard address. When spam
becomes heavy to that address, create a new AddressGuard address,
change the data with the registrar, and turn off the old address.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20206003 Sat, 22 Mar 2008 01:52:12 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20205521 Lizz : Okay, I'll do it if you think it will help. I talked to Tier 2 and got some links for the support folks to use to get themselves unblocked. Hopefully that will work in this instance, but maybe the Direct guys can do something for everyone because I'm guessing we could all be affected.

I'll post it over there shortly.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20205521 Fri, 21 Mar 2008 23:16:43 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20205477 nwrickert : Thanks for the information. That was my worry, too.

You might want to post about it in the ATT Direct forum, to see if they can provide any information.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20205477 Fri, 21 Mar 2008 23:08:27 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20205262 Lizz : Well, bad news: Today I discovered that some "real" email is also being blocked. I am NOT happy. My new web hosting company sent me 3 emails, two from sales, which I got, and one from support containing critical information to enable me to set up my site, and that one I did NOT receive.

Support literally had to send it to a sales rep who then had to forward it to me. The blocked address contains "support@" Had I not been told to expect it, I would not have known of the problem.

The support group didn't even get an error message. This is NOT good!]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20205262 Fri, 21 Mar 2008 22:32:44 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20203646 Sheryltoo : I'm in the NorthEast and posted a message at the AT&T group there because I was wondering what happened to all my junk mail.
My e-mail address is .snet if that helps any of you who are wondering who's doing the filtering.
I use to get around 200 spam mail a day and this week I've probably haven't even reached 100 total.
So far today I've gotten 15 spams and I love it but I too am worried that some non spam may not be coming through.
There's usually at least one non spam in my junk folder every day and I always say not to mark it as spam, however the server doesn't always listen to me.
Sheryl]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20203646 Fri, 21 Mar 2008 17:00:35 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20202812 Dude :

said by ttiiggy :

I figured it must be connected to Spring Break.
The spammers are on vacation. :)

true]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20202812 Fri, 21 Mar 2008 14:14:43 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20202442 ttiiggy : I figured it must be connected to Spring Break.
The spammers are on vacation. :)
--
If you take everything with a grin of silt, you will go around with a dirty smile.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20202442 Fri, 21 Mar 2008 13:16:27 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20201957 wptski : I only had eight SPAMS this morning when I'd normally have 50-60! Maybe my lag time mentioned above was from the other party's server. Most times I don't even look at the timestamp but it caught mt eye this time.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20201957 Fri, 21 Mar 2008 11:54:00 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20200329 jsinaiko : I think there is an ebb and flow to it. Kind of like the anti-submarine war in the Atlantic in WWII. For a while the spammers get the upper hand and we all get 100 a day. Then the filters and anti-spam operations figure something out and we get much less. Eventually the spammers figure out a work-around the cycle begins again.
--
Illegitimati non carborundum
]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20200329 Fri, 21 Mar 2008 01:29:14 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20199924 Old_Grouch :

said by nwrickert :

I'm liking it too. I don't think I am missing anything, but that's the one concern.

I too have seen a major drop from over one hundred per day to less than 10. And, messages that I have been marking as not spam are still showing up...still in the spam folder but not dumped like I feared.

Guess I will pull the solution out from my appeal to Yahoo! and try the steps again to see if they work.

Almost don't want to touch it :D
--
At Team Discovery we know how to get more outta that danged 'puter of yours!
If you paid taxes it's a rebate. If you didn't, it's welfare.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20199924 Thu, 20 Mar 2008 23:42:46 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20199752 nwrickert : The one or two spam per day looks good, compared to the 70-80 a day I was getting.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20199752 Thu, 20 Mar 2008 23:14:31 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20199373 Lizz : I know what you mean. Since I get my work via email, it's not a case of what I don't know won't hurt me. As I said, fingers are X'd!!!

ETA: Spoke too soon: Just got spam #2 for today in my bulk mailbox!]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20199373 Thu, 20 Mar 2008 22:24:09 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20199301 nwrickert : I'm liking it too. I don't think I am missing anything, but that's the one concern.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20199301 Thu, 20 Mar 2008 22:15:06 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20199277 Lizz : I think I'm beginning to like this. I've had one email in my bulk mailbox all day so far, and just the two I already mentioned that found their way into my inbox.

And I have been getting normal email, so if you see any typos in this, it's because I'm typing with my fingers crossed :D]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20199277 Thu, 20 Mar 2008 22:11:04 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20197342 StillLearn : I would like to think it was from spammers getting prosecuted or spammers fearing prosecution.
»news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=u···G=Search

Seems too much to hope for tho.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20197342 Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:33:03 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20196861 nwrickert : I don't get much normal mail on these email addresses. The test message that I sent myself (from my work email) arrived within a minute or two.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20196861 Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:21:48 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20196733 WaukMan : I have also noticed the dramatic drop in spam emails but I am not seeing a lag in anything getting to me.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20196733 Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:00:43 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20196260 wptski : How's the timestamp on what your getting? This seems to be delaying the real email. Some of mine took an hour to get to me!]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20196260 Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:54:23 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20196244 TheDuck : Have faith. As time goes by they will find a way around the blockers again....]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20196244 Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:52:15 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20196172 nemoslats : Well.......it sure is nice not getting all the Spam. There were some legitimate emails in the Bulk Folder that I marked as Not Spam so maybe all of the blocked addresses and domains that send those spam emails are finally blocked. Having Watches, Blue pills, software, big ones and all the other key names that have been included in those junk spam emails are nice not to see. Maybe those that are now blacked are being redirected back to the senders and cramming their systems!! HA HA Just more traffic..]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20196172 Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:41:43 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20196150 TheDuck : I cleared mine yesterday and only have three in it today. I usually get 50 a day so they did something.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20196150 Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:39:23 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20195891 Lizz : I have a vanilla Yahoo account, too, but it has never gotten much spam, maybe 2 a week total, so it's not a fair test.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20195891 Thu, 20 Mar 2008 12:56:01 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20195869 nwrickert : I'm also not sure how to react.

Other related threads:
»Email Problems?
»Has AT&T and/or Yahoo started filtering Spam?

I am hoping that someone with a plain vanilla Yahoo account, in addition to their ISP account, will drop in and tell us whether only AT&T addresses (in my case ameritech.net addresses) are affected, or whether this is a Yahoo thing.
--
AT&T dsl; Westell 327w modem/router; SuSE 10.1; firefox 2.0.0.12]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20195869 Thu, 20 Mar 2008 12:52:26 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20195836 justbits : I tend to get 10 spam in my Inbox per day, 10 spam in the trash per day (with legitimate Yahoo Groups email being routed there too even though it's in my address book) and at least 20 spam in the Spam folder per day. And I never told anyone what my @sbcglobal.net account name was.

I wish I was having your "problem". :-)]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20195836 Thu, 20 Mar 2008 12:48:46 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20195700 Lizz : I don't know whether to be happy or worried: Logged on this morning and found an EMPTY bulk mailbox, rather than the usual 50+, and 2 spams in my inbox.

ETA: I did get a lot of "real" email, so it doesn't look as though anything is missing, but of course, it's impossible to be sure about that!]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20195700 Thu, 20 Mar 2008 12:27:42 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20193079 nwrickert : Okay, thanks.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20193079 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:52:53 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20193072 Lizz : I'm guessing Yahoo. Because although she did keep saying ATT/Yahoo, I think I heard Yahoo once all by itself.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20193072 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:51:32 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20193017 nwrickert : Yes, a test message I sent from my work system got there successfully.

Still wondering if this is a Yahoo change, or an ATT change.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20193017 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:41:27 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20192839 Lizz : Here's what I found out, but not from Tier 2. I just couldn't wait any longer. They seem to be overloaded. I waited for over an hour.

ATT/Yahoo has been upgrading their servers to try to prevent all the spam we've been getting. Now, whether the lack thereof means it's working or something else, I can't tell you.

My problem with my own email was caused by a dumb user: ME. Somehow I managed to add myself to my blocked address list! That's what happens when you get tons of spam a day, I guess.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20192839 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:11:54 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20192685 Lizz : I will . . . I've been holding FOREVER :mad:

PS Can you send yourself email successfully?]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20192685 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 20:43:49 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20192675 nwrickert :

... because now I can't receive test emails I've sent myself!

That's the possibility that was worrying me.

If you hear something, please post back.

And thanks, folk, for responding.
--
AT&T dsl; Westell 327w modem/router; SuSE 10.1; firefox 2.0.0.12]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20192675 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 20:41:55 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20192623 Lizz : Same thing here in SoCal. I'm waiting to speak to Tier 2 because now I can't receive test emails I've sent myself! Not a good sign!]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20192623 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 20:34:48 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20192351 privatepilot : I too have noticed the lack of items in the Yahoo web mail junk folder for the last two days. Previously, I would get a page or two.

I know my spam blocker isn't that good.,,..]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20192351 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 19:44:03 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20189425 wings10 : Spam blocker hard at work. ;)]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20189425 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:12:27 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20189420 nwrickert : I am used to receiving 70 or more spam messages per day in my junk folder (viewed with Yahoo webmail). However, this morning there were only 2 new spam.

I'm not complaining about the lack of spam. But I do wonder what happened to it. I'm quite sure that the spammers are still sending, as there has been no drop in spam to my other mail addresses (not on at&t or yahoo).

Is this an at&t change? Or is this a Yahoo change in the handling of spam? Those who have other yahoo email addresses might be able to tell whether only the at&t addresses are affected.

With this change, is there a risk that important mail will be misidentified as spam, and blocked? (Not really a problem for me, since I receive most of my important mail elsewhere).

Inquiring minds want to know.
--
AT&T dsl; Westell 327w modem/router; SuSE 10.1; firefox 2.0.0.12]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20189420 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:11:17 EDT