Comcast Email Issues Make Me Want To Poke My Eye Out

Comcast Email Issues Make Me Want To Poke My Eye Out Im beyond frustrated with Comcast email issues Im writing this post for two reasons: To inform users and people who sign up for JibberJobber that they WILL NOT get email from us anytime soon so those birthday reminders, action item reminders, signup verification, password reminders none of that will get to you until we can get this resolved. To tell people, whether you use Comcast as your ISP or email provider, that there is a much, much better way to handle your email. First, for the issue of the JibberJobber mail server not able to send to Comcast addresses.   I was an email admin a while back and know that we will never win the war on spam.   Never.   Its a huge issue, of course, as no one likes spam.   But sometimes the rules put into place cause more problems than they fix. For example, when I was an email admin we set a threshold so that certain emails would go through (the good ones) and others would get stuck in a spam bucket (the bad ones).   Guess what? There were a number of false positives, that is, emails that were GOOD but got marked as spam. Executives (who are typically the most whiney in situations like this) at first complained they got too much spam.   So we change the threshold so they get no (or little) spam, and then they whined they werent getting the important emails (the false positives, usually from their kids). The problem here is that Comcast has blacklisted our server, which means NOTHING will go from our server to a Comcast email address.   We have tried to go through their process of getting off the blacklist, but have heard NOTHING back from them.   Very unprofessional.   Maybe @comcastcares on Twitter, but this is living hell for me, as I have a bunch of users saying I never got _____ email. And indeed, they are writing from a Comcast email address. Ill try again today, based on this blog post about getting off of Comcasts blacklist, but Im not hopeful. Enough about me and JibberJobber now for the regular person.   I strongly encourage you to get a Gmail email account, for a few reasons: Gmail has an awesome interface on the internet, and other interfaces (with Outlook, etc.). Gmail interfaces with other cool tools, like the Google Calendar. Gmail has awesome spam management.   Rarely have I seen problems in their logic, which amazes me. Your Gmail address WONT EVERY CHANGE.   Let me present a scenerio today you are on Comcast (or Quest or whatever) and then you move and get a different ISP or phone service.   Guess what you will likely get a different email address and have to tell all of your contacts.   Do this a few times and its frustrating to YOU and your contacts.   Get one gmail address now and keep it forever regardless of who your ISP is. Gmail makes you look more sophistacated (or up to speed, or whatever) than other providers like AOL (old), Juno (older), Yahoo, etc. There ya go.   I gotta stop writing and go try and get off of Comcasts blacklist.   Grrrrrrrrrr. Oh yeah, in case you are having blacklist problems with your email server going to Comcast, here are some good reads: How to stay off the (Comcast blacklist) list Im not hopeful, but maybe it will help.   Could change anytime. Up to 8000 Comcast E-mail Accounts Compromised guess they arent perfect either.   This was only a few months ago March 2009. RBL Blacklisted by Comcast lets hope Im as lucky as this email admin. Comcast reports 35 percent decline in spam ya think?   I wonder what increase they say in false positives. Comcast takes hard line against spam no kidding.   So much for getting legit emails, too. Comcast Email Issues Make Me Want To Poke My Eye Out Im beyond frustrated with Comcast email issues Im writing this post for two reasons: To inform users and people who sign up for JibberJobber that they WILL NOT get email from us anytime soon so those birthday reminders, action item reminders, signup verification, password reminders none of that will get to you until we can get this resolved. To tell people, whether you use Comcast as your ISP or email provider, that there is a much, much better way to handle your email. First, for the issue of the JibberJobber mail server not able to send to Comcast addresses.   I was an email admin a while back and know that we will never win the war on spam.   Never.   Its a huge issue, of course, as no one likes spam.   But sometimes the rules put into place cause more problems than they fix. For example, when I was an email admin we set a threshold so that certain emails would go through (the good ones) and others would get stuck in a spam bucket (the bad ones).   Guess what? There were a number of false positives, that is, emails that were GOOD but got marked as spam. Executives (who are typically the most whiney in situations like this) at first complained they got too much spam.   So we change the threshold so they get no (or little) spam, and then they whined they werent getting the important emails (the false positives, usually from their kids). The problem here is that Comcast has blacklisted our server, which means NOTHING will go from our server to a Comcast email address.   We have tried to go through their process of getting off the blacklist, but have heard NOTHING back from them.   Very unprofessional.   Maybe @comcastcares on Twitter, but this is living hell for me, as I have a bunch of users saying I never got _____ email. And indeed, they are writing from a Comcast email address. Ill try again today, based on this blog post about getting off of Comcasts blacklist, but Im not hopeful. Enough about me and JibberJobber now for the regular person.   I strongly encourage you to get a Gmail email account, for a few reasons: Gmail has an awesome interface on the internet, and other interfaces (with Outlook, etc.). Gmail interfaces with other cool tools, like the Google Calendar. Gmail has awesome spam management.   Rarely have I seen problems in their logic, which amazes me. Your Gmail address WONT EVERY CHANGE.   Let me present a scenerio today you are on Comcast (or Quest or whatever) and then you move and get a different ISP or phone service.   Guess what you will likely get a different email address and have to tell all of your contacts.   Do this a few times and its frustrating to YOU and your contacts.   Get one gmail address now and keep it forever regardless of who your ISP is. Gmail makes you look more sophistacated (or up to speed, or whatever) than other providers like AOL (old), Juno (older), Yahoo, etc. There ya go.   I gotta stop writing and go try and get off of Comcasts blacklist.   Grrrrrrrrrr. Oh yeah, in case you are having blacklist problems with your email server going to Comcast, here are some good reads: How to stay off the (Comcast blacklist) list Im not hopeful, but maybe it will help.   Could change anytime. Up to 8000 Comcast E-mail Accounts Compromised guess they arent perfect either.   This was only a few months ago March 2009. RBL Blacklisted by Comcast lets hope Im as lucky as this email admin. Comcast reports 35 percent decline in spam ya think?   I wonder what increase they say in false positives. Comcast takes hard line against spam no kidding.   So much for getting legit emails, too.