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Can't e-mail Jason.Hiner@techrepublic.com

0 helpful
5 replies

by joseph moore

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.

Hey, is anyone else having a problem replying to the e-mail Jason Hiner sent out earlier today on the new project TR is doing for compiling frequently asked Q&A questions?
I've tried to reply to him 3 times (at the e-mail address above) and every time, my mail bounces back. The bounce back error is "552 5.7.1 Spam rejected."
How rude!
Anyway, I was wondering if anyone else was having this problem.
Thanks
Joe

5 replies

by oz_media

Sounds like these guys are relying on RBL blocks as an attempt to slow spam and getting false positives while they are at it.

I noticed a couple of other TR addresses bounce back as SPAM, I just use on eof their old emails and reply to it. I know this may not help in YOUR case, but you might want to try and see if it gets passed through, they usually do.

by thechas

Hi Joe,

Well, it's been over 2 1/2 hours since I replied to my mail from Jason, and no bounce reply.

I have sent emails to TR from the account I used for the reply in the past.

I have to agree with Oz, that it likely is a SPAM filter issue.

Chas

by joseph moore

Ok, it looks like the SMTP servers for techrepublic.com.com are actively blocking mail from the domain I use for my personal e-mail (hushmail.com).
Even if I just send an e-mail with only a sentence in it, it gets blocked!
I feel unloved!!!
So, I used another e-mail account that I keep for spam (the one I use to sign up anytime a junk e-mail address is needed), and that one to Jason went through.
sigh...

by joseph moore

So, I decided to look at the SMTP server that is used for their mail routing. I used NetCat to connect, and I tried to send mail from my hushmail.com account as the sender; when I specified Jason's e-mail address, the SMTP rejected me for the "spam reject" message.
But when I then tried to send mail with my other account (a Yahoo.com address) and with Jason's as the destionation, it went through OK.

For fun, here's the NetCat output:
==============
C:\Program Files\netcat>nc -v c10-mail.cnet.com 25
c10-mail.cnet.com [216.239.112.33] 25 (smtp) open
220 c10-mail2.cnet.com ESMTP Sendmail 8.12.10/8.12.10; Wed, 26 May 2004 22:00:49
-0700 (PDT)
help
214-2.0.0 This is sendmail version 8.12.10
214-2.0.0 Topics:
214-2.0.0 HELO EHLO MAIL RCPT DATA
214-2.0.0 RSET NOOP QUIT HELP VRFY
214-2.0.0 EXPN VERB ETRN DSN AUTH
214-2.0.0 STARTTLS
214-2.0.0 For more info use "HELP ".
214-2.0.0 To report bugs in the implementation send email to
214-2.0.0 sendmail-bugs@sendmail.org.
214-2.0.0 For local information send email to Postmaster at your site.
214 2.0.0 End of HELP info
helo c10-mail.cnet.com
250 c10-mail2.cnet.com Hello ME [xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx],
pleased to meet you
mail from: ME@hushmail.com
250 2.1.0 ME@hushmail.com... Sender ok
rcpt to: Jason.Hiner@techrepublic.com
552 5.0.0 Spam rejected...In case of error please contact postmaster@cnet.com
^C
C:\Program Files\netcat>nc -v c10-mail.cnet.com 25
c10-mail.cnet.com [216.239.112.33] 25 (smtp) open
220 c10-mail1.cnet.com ESMTP Sendmail 8.12.10/8.12.10; Wed, 26 May 2004 22:01:58
-0700 (PDT)
help
214-2.0.0 This is sendmail version 8.12.10
214-2.0.0 Topics:
214-2.0.0 HELO EHLO MAIL RCPT DATA
214-2.0.0 RSET NOOP QUIT HELP VRFY
214-2.0.0 EXPN VERB ETRN DSN AUTH
214-2.0.0 STARTTLS
214-2.0.0 For more info use "HELP ".
214-2.0.0 To report bugs in the implementation send email to
214-2.0.0 sendmail-bugs@sendmail.org.
214-2.0.0 For local information send email to Postmaster at your site.
214 2.0.0 End of HELP info
helo c10-mail.cnet.com
250 c10-mail1.cnet.com Hello ME [xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx],
pleased to meet you
mail from: ME@yahoo.com
250 2.1.0 ME@yahoo.com... Sender ok
rcpt to: Jason.Hiner@techrepublic.com
250 2.1.5 Jason.Hiner@techrepublic.com... Recipient ok
^C
=========
Spam rejected!
Well!!!!

by jasonhiner

Joesph:

I got your e-mail from the alternate address and responded. We get a lot of SPAM, so our filters can be kind of draconian at times. I'm working on getting your e-mail address put on a whitelist.

Thanks for being willing to help with the TechQ&A knowledge base!

Jason

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