Lost Emails via PH site - AOL Users

[Steve*B]

Thought I'd raise this on the Feedback forum as a solution wasn't found posting it in the Computer Section.

Attempting to Email other members results in an error as shown below (I have a copy of this error as PH attempts to send me a copy of the email I am sending.)

The original message was received at Wed, 26 Aug 2009 13:19:22 +0100

----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
<[e-mail]>

----- Transcript of session follows -----
... while talking to mailin-02.mx.aol.com
>>> DATA
<<< 554 TRANSACTION FAILED


Original-Recipient: RFC822; <[e-mail]>
Final-Recipient: RFC822; <[e-mail]>
Action: failed
Remote-MTA: DNS; mailin-02.mx.aol.com
Last-Attempt-Date: Wed, 26 Aug 2009 13:19:22 +0100


Return-Path: <[e-mail]>
Received: from PHDS-WEB07 ([10.2.20.17])
by mail.pistonheads.co.uk (Merak 8.9.1) with ESMTP id HUT66421
for <[e-mail]>; Wed, 26 Aug 2009 13:19:21 +0100
Subject: =?iso-8859-1?Q?COPY_OF_EMAIL:_Wednesday_Test?=
Sender: "Steve*B" <[e-mail]>
From: "Steve*B" <[e-mail]>
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 2009 13:18:39 +0100
To: "=?iso-8859-1?Q?stv1x@aol=2Ecom?=" <[e-mail]>
Reply-To: [e-mail]
X-Priority: 3
Content-Transfer-Encoding: Quoted-Printable
MIME-Version: 1.0
X-Mailer: JMail 4.5 by Dimac
Content-Type: text/plain



This email has been forwarded by PistonHeads.com
Your email address has not been revealed to the sender
of the message, but will be if you choose to reply.

I don't believe that this error is unique to PH as I am effectively locked out of other forums as my request for forgotten passwords are not reaching the recipients. Fortunately, I have a standard password for PH which is easily remembered unlike the ones I have for other forums that have resulted in the lock-outs so I am able to log into PH and post without issue on the forums. Receiving messages however is a different story. Having trawled the net for clues, I came across an identical problem experienced by users of Twitter. If anyone can be bothered to read the multiple problems people are having on that site that relates to the same issue I have on PH then it can be read here http://help.twitter.com/forums/31935/entries/38521

If there is one thing that appears to be in common then it's users of the ISP AOL. Not all, but a fair proportion, of those complaining about lost or bouncing messages appear to be using AOL. Having contacted AOL directly, they assure me that they are not blocking email to my account. However, as you can see from the above error message on PH something isn't working. My email account is active and I receive all 'normal' email that is sent using the AOL browser except those that are web based via a forum.

If other AOL users are able to then can they please try and send me an email via the PH Email facility (not directly from their AOL browser) to ascertain if they too are suffering from this error? It is possible that PH are unaware that AOL users who have forgotten their password are unable to request them and are effectively being locked out of the site because of this error.

Of course, if anyone can suggest another reason why 'internal' mail sent via PH is failing I'd be more than happy to hear it.

Cheers
Steve

[PetrolTed]

When building PH I encountered a lot of problems sending mail to AOL. Some of it was down to the way I was doing things years ago, some of it down to AOL being particularly sensitive. There was a period where I couldn't get any emails through at all.

Sorry, I know that's no answer to your immediate problem.

[tubbystu]

I raised a similar point as this with Pete a couple of weeks ago.

I haven't chased it because I always get the copy mail included deep down at the end of the techno babble.

I'm not aware of any password issues.......

AOL is a pretty awful and divisive OS but some of us are stuck with it for historical e-mail addresses etc.

[PetrolTed]

It's to do with AOL's rules for people sending bulk email to them.

[Steve*B]

PetrolTed said:

When building PH I encountered a lot of problems sending mail to AOL. Some of it was down to the way I was doing things years ago, some of it down to AOL being particularly sensitive. There was a period where I couldn't get any emails through at all.

Sorry, I know that's no answer to your immediate problem.

No it's not PetrolTed but I hear where you are coming from. It's too much of a coincidence to believe it's actually PH related as this is happening to me now on 3 different sites. My email address is valid and yet the error message states that it's not. Im not a prolific poster so it's difficult to ascertain when exactly this started to happen but something's changed somewhere I'm guessing within the last month. I don't suppose you're aware of how many current PH members are on AOL? I must have requested my password, which states each time that it's been sent, fifty times over on the MTorque board without success and can only imagine that there are PH members in a similar position here on this site who have lost their password.

I'll keep badgering AOL unless someone can suggest another option to get this fixed.
Cheers
Steve

[tubbystu]

PetrolTed said:

It's to do with AOL's rules for people sending bulk email to them.

Really ?

So the recipient gets a batch of techno-babble and then the mail content at the end. Surely they'd just stick it in the spam bin - or delete it all together....... The string of code doesn't seem to make sense to the likes of Pete etc.

Is it because it gets sent by what they see as a something like a third party sender ?

Its only an issue (and from my part not really an issue at all) for the original copy mails, any subsequent replies and correspondence get straight through IIRC.

You're up late Ted.

[Steve*B]

tubbystu said:

I raised a similar point as this with Pete a couple of weeks ago.

I haven't chased it because I always get the copy mail included deep down at the end of the techno babble.

I'm not aware of any password issues.......

AOL is a pretty awful and divisive OS but some of us are stuck with it for historical e-mail addresses etc.

I agree with the sentiments and the reason for sticking with them are the same. Quick question on passwords. If I log out of PH and request a lost password will the system issue me with a 'temporary' one? I'd try it but fear that if it issues a temporary one that I'll never receive it and be effectively locked out.

[Kinky]

Do you have a yahoo, gmail, hotmail, or other email address you could use?

[tubbystu]

Steve*B said:

tubbystu said:

I raised a similar point as this with Pete a couple of weeks ago.

I haven't chased it because I always get the copy mail included deep down at the end of the techno babble.

I'm not aware of any password issues.......

AOL is a pretty awful and divisive OS but some of us are stuck with it for historical e-mail addresses etc.

I agree with the sentiments and the reason for sticking with them are the same. Quick question on passwords. If I log out of PH and request a lost password will the system issue me with a 'temporary' one? I'd try it but fear that if it issues a temporary one that I'll never receive it and be effectively locked out.

Don't you always get the mail content, buried at the end of the mail ? I know the header says "mail failed sending" or some such confusing title but its usually all in there somewhere in my (limited) experience.

[tubbystu]

Kinky said:

Do you have a yahoo, gmail, hotmail, or other email address you could use?

Not if all your mail goes via AOL.

AOL is incompatible with Outlook so you would then have to have several mail boxes running. Not the best solution.

[tubbystu]

Steve*B said:

If other AOL users are able to then can they please try and send me an email via the PH Email facility (not directly from their AOL browser) to ascertain if they too are suffering from this error?

YHM

[Steve*B]

Kinky said:

Do you have a yahoo, gmail, hotmail, or other email address you could use?

I've got a BT-internet address I could use although it's going to be a pain in the rear to consolidate incoming email if this issue continues. Is it simply a case of deleting my AOL address from my profile and inserting the new one?

[Kinky]

It can't be that big a deal if you just use it for PH password changes?

[PetrolTed]

tubbystu said:

PetrolTed said:

It's to do with AOL's rules for people sending bulk email to them.

Really ?

So the recipient gets a batch of techno-babble and then the mail content at the end. Surely they'd just stick it in the spam bin - or delete it all together....... The string of code doesn't seem to make sense to the likes of Pete etc.

Is it because it gets sent by what they see as a something like a third party sender ?

Well, it's been a long time since I last looked into this but I do remember it being pretty confusing at the time. You may be right though, it might be something completely different! I can't recall what response mails got when they were binning as potential spam.

tubbystu said:

You're up late Ted.

Yep, just a bit of late night coding. I'll make sure my new system talks to AOL more kindly

[Steve*B]

tubbystu said:

Don't you always get the mail content, buried at the end of the mail ? I know the header says "mail failed sending" or some such confusing title but its usually all in there somewhere in my (limited) experience.

Yes, it's there, at the end of the error message. If I can I'll just turn the send a copy to my email address off. Oh, and try not to forget my password

[tubbystu]

Kinky said:

It can't be that big a deal if you just use it for PH password changes?

Aha, but it applies to every mail I send a PH-er from within the site.

I get a mail titled " mail faliure notice" and a string of techno-babble with the mail content buried deep within it.

It is only my copy of the mail I know, but its not quite right. It looks like spam.........

[Kinky]

I'll let Pete handle it

[tubbystu]

Time for for me.

[Steve*B]

tubbystu said:

Time for for me.

Me too. Thanks for the input guys.

Cheers
Steve

[Kinky]