SOTW IP address and spam databases

[Harri Rautiainen]

During past few months we have been plagued with spam IP block problems not caused by saxontheweb.net site.
Finally got an explanation and action plan from our service provider.

I am not convinded, yet, that changing the IP address is worth of the all hassle involved. However, in the case there is no alternative, you should be prepared and not use any more the direct address of the SOTW site (71.6.135.46). Instead use:

http://forum.saxontheweb.net/ for the Forum and
http://www.saxontheweb.net/ for the Sax on the Web front page.
To our valued CariNet customers,

If you are receiving this case update you currently have IP addresses assigned to you that are currently being blacklisted for some reason or another. We apologize for any delay in resolving these issues and we assure you that we are focusing a considerable amount of effort on addressing your concerns.

In the next 24-48 hours Cari.net will be taking drastic measures to resolve the vast majority of existing blacklisted IP's. We expect these actions to have a largely beneficial affect, but we can not guarantee how quickly any existing blacklists will be lifted.

In order to help alleviate any existing problems immediately, Cari.net is offering to replace any of your existing IP's with brand new IP's which have recently been allocated from ARIN.

If you are interested in having your IP's replaced, please respond to this case with your request, including the IP's you wish to replace. We will make every effort to provide these new IP's within 24 hours of receiving your case update.

Cari.net will also be increasing our level of screening for new and existing customers to help ensure that further blacklisting events are kept to an absolute minimum.

We thank you for your patience and continued patronage. We will be working as quickly as possible to resolve these issues.

Thank you.

CariNet Management and Abuse Teams

[Harri Rautiainen]

In July 2006 Sax on the Web (71.6.135.46) moved to a dedicated server. This move was long overdue and solved all the performance and system down problems we had earlier.

Unfortunately there were some other sites in the same IP range who were not careful enough in guarding their security. Some spammers were able using their form-based sendmail facilities for spamming. Because of this Sax on the Web (71.6.135.46) ended up on some spam-blocking lists. I have been fighting this issue for past six months and the victory is near.

SOTW is no more on any widely recognized spam databases where we should not have been in first place anyway: http://www.dnsstuff.com/tools/ip4r.ch?ip=71.6.135.46

Unfortunately there are (at least) four ISPs who are either complacent or incompetent:
excite.com, cox.net, optonline.net and bellsouth.net
They have refused removing SOTW from their block lists although I have requested several times.

I am fed up and I am not going to take it any more. If you, as an existing SOTW member use these ISPs, understand that you will NOT be able to receive email from saxontheweb.net.

Every time your notification mail message gets bounced to my inbox, I am forced turn off all your e-mail services. If the forum administration cannot reach you in a problem situation your membership will be terminated without a warning. (We will have no means to send a warning.)

Newly registered users won't get the activation code in email and your membership cannot be activated.

It is now up to ISP's customers because they won't listen to "outsiders". The SOTW staff apoligizes for this inconvience, but we feel that we have been more than diligent in trying to solve this problem. Your patience and understanding will be appreciated.