SPAM Rejection

Use this form to request de-listing from SVPAL's SPAM block list. While SVPAL's SPAM filter tries to avoid listing legitimate email sources, sometimes innocent relays do get listed. If you are an SVPAL subscriber experiencing an email rejection when sending email, click here for help. Use the form below to submit a de-listing request. The main thing we need is the reason code as shown (highlighted in red) in the example below:

Probable SPAM Source; http://enterprise.svpal.org/cgi-bin/spamdelist?reason=A1009999999.55

* Reason:

* Required

My Email was Rejected as SPAM

Unfortunately SPAM has become such a widespread problem that some filtering is necessary to keep email communications viable.

Sometimes legitimate email does get rejected by our filters. If you are encountering such a problem you may submit a request to remove the block on your email by following the directions above. All requests must include the unique ID code that is reported when the email was rejected.

One cause of email rejection is using software that sends email directly and bypasses your ISP's mail server. This is a problem because dynamic IP addresses (most dialup and residential DSL users) are routinely blocked from sending direct email. A large percentage of SPAM is now routed through virus infected computers using dynamic IP addresses, so many ISPs routinely block direct email from these sources.

Software such as "Send Mail Direct," "Group Mail," "Mail Direct" and many bulk email programs may attempt to route email directly and will fail when sending email to SVPAL. The solution is to disable this software or configure it to not perform direct delivery (if such option exists) when sending email to SVPAL.

SVPAL Subscribers

If you are receiving a rejection as an SVPAL subscriber you should update your email settings described by the following links. Look for the section titled "SMTP AUTH". These updated email settings bypass spam filtering and provide a better level of service for SVPAL subscribers.

Temporary Rejection

Some rejections are due to temporary conditions. These conditions include such things as a server restarting, lack of sufficient storage, or insufficient memory. A temporary rejection indicates that email delivery is possible sometime in the near future. The sending system is expected to reattempt the delivery in the near future. Here is an example of a temporary delivery failure:

In this example the rejection code is "451" indicating a temporary failure. All temporary failures indicate with "4" as the first digit of the rejection code. In this particular example, the sending system is listed on the "grey list". The "grey list" is a listing of email sources that have not been vetted. Email from grey listed servers are not rejected outright, but are only deferred for a period of time. Once the server has been vetted, it's email is accepted. The grey listing process is very effective in blocking SPAM and viruses.

Permanent Rejection

Rejections that indicate with a "5" as the first digit of the code (e.g. "550") are permanent rejections. The message cannot be delivered and should be returned to the sender. Some conditions that may cause this is an attempt to send a message to a non-existent mailbox, or the message is rejected by SPAM filtering. Here's an example of a permanent rejection:

In this example the rejection code is "550" indicating a permanent failure. All permanent failures indicate with "5" as the first digit of the rejection code. In this particular example, the message is being rejected by the SPAM filter.

SPAM Rejection Code

When an email message cannot be delivered to a recipient, Internet email systems generate a reply email message known as a DSN (Delivery Status Notification). The DSN email contains messages indicating the reason the message was not delivered and contains a partial or complete copy of the original message. Some of the reasons that email is rejected includes delivery to a non-existent user, or the user's mailbox is full. Other reasons that indicate rejection by the SPAM Rejection filter include:

In all cases note the portion of the message that looks like the following: reason=A1073220510.6. This is a tag that uniquely identifies the filter rule that caused the rejection. This is the code that SVPAL needs to remove the block causing the rejection.

Request Removal from the SPAM Reject Filter

First you need to locate the rejection code for the email that was rejected as described above. Then you should determine the general type of rejection, which is indicated by the first letter of the code. Possible codes and their meanings are listed here:

L	Local Permanent Blacklist. Entries on this list are known persistent sources of SPAM.
A	Added to temporary blacklist. Automatically added SPAM sources that expire after a few days.
C	Content filter rejected. A very limited content check for key words that only appear in SPAM.
S	Spamhaus SBL/XBL list http://www.spamhaus.org/ - a well vetted list of SPAM sources. The SBL list blocks large scale SPAM operations, while the XBL blocks individual sources that are most often compromised home and office personal computers.
G	Grey Listed Relay (Sending system may retry delivery after a delay) - All new sources of email are greylisted for a period of time. Once the probationary grey list period has elapsed no further delay is imposed for the new source.

If you received a type "L", "A", or "C" type rejection, then you may request a de-listing from our SPAM rejection filters. Our logs only go back a few days, so de-listing requests must be made within days of receiving a rejection.

If you received a type "S" rejection, you must go to http://www.spamhaus.org/ to request de-listing.

If you received a type "G" rejection, you must wait for the grey listing period to expire (up to 2 hours) and then resend the message. This type of rejection is normally not fatal, but only causes the email to be delayed. If you are receiving this message as a SVPAL subscriber, you should update your email settings for Outlook Express or Mozilla Thunderbird