Are you a Comcast internet customer? Guests, too!

[admin]

Members and Guests:

Comcast has decided the notices we send each month to let you know our online newsletter is ready is spam and has blocked all mail from our IP address.

That means,
You did not get the October newsletter notice, nor will you be able to receive future notices.
if you are a Forum guest and want to register to post on the Forum, they won't let you get your password.
If you want to send one of our articles to a friend who uses comcast, or to yourself, they won't let you.
If you order something in our General Store, you will not get the email receipt we send.

What can you do?

Please go to

http://www.comcastsupport.com/sdcxuser/lachat/user/Blockedprovider.asp

and use the form there to demand they stop blocking our email. You'll need the following information:

Domain of Blocked IP: backwoodshome.com

I am the: Indicate you are a Comcast customer.

Blocked IP Addresses: 216.193.240.5.

Issue/Comment/Suggestion: Please tell them backwoodshome.com is not a spammer and that you want to be able to receive email from us.

If you are NOT a Comcast customer, please do not use the form. We appreciate you wanting to help, but only customers can influence them.

Thanks for your assistance.

ODS

[Tightwad]

Wonder why BHM has been singled out for this treatment?
Do you know of other forums on the net that is getting
blocked? Has Comast offered any explnation as to why they
believe BHM is a spammer? ( Boy! THAT'S a good one. ::))

Sounds kinda fishy to me..........

[admin]

Wonder why BHM has been singled out for this treatment?
Do you know of other forums on the net that is getting
blocked? Has Comast offered any explnation as to why they
believe BHM is a spammer? ( Boy! THAT'S a good one. ::))

Sounds kinda fishy to me..........
My understanding is that they deem any large group of email going to their customers to be spam unless proven otherwise. We have about 200 newsletter subscribers who use Comcast, so I guess 200 notices arriving in a short time is enough to trip their spam monitors.

One would think they'd have a human look at one of the emails before banning the sender, but I guess that would make too much sense.

I've contacted them, again, to try and resolve the issue, but some noise from some of their customers would sure help convince them we're okay.

ODS

[ryanmercer]

I"ve never gotten a newsletter... *blinks* and gmail isn't flagging them as spam... weird.

[admin]

I"ve never gotten a newsletter... *blinks* and gmail isn't flagging them as spam... weird.
This may be a silly question, but...did you sign up to receive the newsletter notice? If so, PM me with the email address you used and approximately when you signed up.

If you did not, you may do so by clicking on "Newsletter" in the "Features" secion of the navigation bar to the left.

ODS

[admin]

Good news and bad news.

I've convinced Comcast we're not spammers. However, they made a point of telling me that if we're flagged again by their filtering software, we'll get banned again.

They've chosen not to respond to my question about how to avoid the flagging, given that we send a notice to about 200 of their customers every month.

Aren't bureaucracies fun to deal with?

[billy_goat_gruff]

To members who are Comcast customers and like inconvenient self-reliance - does Comcast allow e-mail through YaHoo?

If so, and you have done business with BWH, then you can set up a YaHoo account (maybe other providers also) and have the newsletter notice delivered there.

It may be inconvenient but I've found that convenience is usually more costly for me. Also, occasionally YaHoo will put my newsletter notice in my spam box, and I have to click on the "THIS IS NOT SPAM" button to get it straight. At least they give me the choice of what is spam and what is not.

Oliver, BWH does still accept "anonymous" e-mail addies if they are tied to our subscriptions or other orders, don't they?

I'll butt out now...

[admin]

Oliver, BWH does still accept "anonymous" e-mail addies if they are tied to our subscriptions or other orders, don't they?

Yes. For the newsletter and Forum, any valid email address is fine.

And thanks for the excellent suggestion, which I second.

Comcast customers, please establish a backup account at Yahoo or Hotmail or wherever in case they decide we're spammers again.

ODS

[DV8]

if you are a comcast subscriber, you may go into your email inbox > click options> *email options > trusted addresses > safelist & click add .. put in the email addy (whatever email addy they are blocking) and hit save. (DO NOT AT THIS POINT HIT THE BACK BUTTON OR IT WILL RESET) close out of the account then log back in & make sure the addy you want unblocked has been added to your safe list..

No more troubles :)
~DV8

EDIT: if U use an aftermarket mail retriever (outlook etc) this will need to be added to the safe list in it as well, as comcast sends coding that also prevents these addresses from being delivered if one account deems them spam. a security feature you must turn OFF !!

[DV8]

another option would be to send out the mailing list using a proxy. this will alter the sent from ip & thus unblock it.

how do U use a proxy ? goto (in internet explorer) Tools > options > connections > LAN settings.. tick the box where it says use a proxy connection. YOU WILL NEED A PROXY IP & PORT to use this feature.

to find daily working proxies goto
http://www.samair.ru/proxy/

remember an open proxy will NOT hide your ip, you'll need either Annonymous or better yet, Highly annonymous !!

other links for fresh proxies:

www.proxy-list.org/

www.atomintersoft.com/products/alive-proxy/proxy-list/

http://tools.rosinstrument.com/proxy/

remember, it is possible to chain proxy's, & tho time consuming, it offers about 95% total anonymous surfing (yer cookies make up the 5% slack)

~DV8

[WileyCoyote]

In answer to the question - yes, they are blocking quite a few forums/alerts. I have gotten messages from several of my regulars whose postings I have signed up for, saying that it isn't just Comcast - Yahoo is doing it too, as are several others. Supposedly (according to these folks) it is part of the required federal Reporting system that most providers have had to sign up onto. Whether that is true or not I cannot say - I can only tell you that it has disrupted several of my "receives".

Since I visit here several times a week, now, and never signed up for the alert on BHM, I can't speak to this one.

[nz1h]

Hi all
It looks as if they (comcast) has removed the page the
link points to.
what do i do now??

thanks alain

[admin]

Hi all
It looks as if they (comcast) has removed the page the
link points to.
what do i do now??

thanks alain
If you have also signed up to receive our Newletter notice, the easiest thing to do is to create a free hotmail or gmail address and have the notices sent there.

We have had no problem at all with those services. (Knocking on wood as I type that)

Oliver