Could futurequest rtake another crack at Yahoo's delayed delivery problem?

[robpitt]

Hi guys,

Any chance someone could have a crack at punching through Yahoo's braindamaged delayed delivery schenanigans as discussed in:
http://www.aota.net/forums/showthread.php?t=23593

Just had another mail delayed and its a tad infuriating (emails supposed to be like, instant give or take a minute).

Has FQ tried filling out the following:
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/mail/postmaster/isp.html
??? Has FQ / Yahoo ever engaged in any real dialog over these issues?

Cheers,

Rob

[Jeff]

Have you also contacted yahoo yourself about the issue Rob? "As a yahoo mail customer, I'm wondering why my mail isn't arriving on time..." If every futurequest customer who also has a yahoo mail account did this, maybe a few hundred or thousand emails might at least catch their attention, though they might still not care.

[robpitt]

I filled out one of their forms and got a response which I found a little confusing, asking me for logs I didn't have and suggesting I do various tests against a Yahoo account ( I don't have a yahoo account ).
I didn't push it but maybe I'll try again... if FQ can't push this themselves.

[Jeff]

I'm sure FutureQuest has and continues to contact Yahoo when customers complain, but I don't think Yahoo particularly cares so I figure the more input yahoo gets from their yahoo mail customers the more likely they will resolve it.

(this is just my opinion)

[johnmcfarland]

I've been working on delayed delivery or failed delivery for months. I've supplied all there requested info. I've followed all their recommended guidelines. I've dropped nearly all customers using yahoo addresses for my real estate update services (25% of my business). I'm not accepting any new yahoo email customers.

Here's their last email to me:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello,

Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Mail.

I am sorry to hear about the issue you have experienced. We have checked
our servers and our mail systems appear to be working at the moment. The
issue may have been transient or network-related.

If the issue persists, the best solution is to have the mail system
administrator or postmaster of the internet service provider or domain,
with which you are experiencing the issue, contact us directly via the
Yahoo! Mail Help page below in order to investigate the issue in further
details.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's their response to the first mail that I sent regarding delayed delivery:

From - Fri Feb 22 07:21:17 2008


Hello John,

Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Mail.

This is Beth.

I understand that you are unable to send mails to your Yahoo! clients as
you are getting "delayed delivery notice" in your Mail account.

We would appreciate it if you could provide more information to help us
troubleshoot the issue. Please note that if you are not the system
administrator for the mail server(s) affected, we encourage you to
contact the administrator so they can address the possible issues
regarding mailings from the mail server. Please reply to this email
with the following information:

* Explain the details of one event with the delivery problems to Yahoo!
Mail. Please provide the entire message, including the full text of the
error message returned, and full header information.

Within a Yahoo! Mail account, you can display this information by
clicking the "Full Headers" link located within the message in the
bottom right-hand corner.

* The specific server_domain name and IP address of the email server(s)
that have the delivery issue to Yahoo! Mail.

IP Address: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
Mail Server Domain Name: server_name.domain.com

* Log messages from your mail server showing which IP you connected to
and what responses you got from the remote server at the time you
received the corresponding failures/timeouts for the event you are
reporting.

* The results from a plain text message, sent to Yahoo! Mail, without
HTML, links, graphics or attachments, from the server having delivery
issues. Is the email delivered to Yahoo! Inbox?

We appreciate your assistance. This information will be helpful in
determining the reason why you are having issues when delivering mail to
Yahoo! Mail accounts.

For any further assistance, Please feel free to contact us.

Be sure to check the Official Yahoo! Mail Blog for more information and
the latest updates about Yahoo! Mail!

- http://ymailupdates.com/blog/

Regards,

Beth
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Provided Yahoo with all the above requested information and have been doing a back and forth with them without any success. I started saving the delayed delivery notices but quit after accumulating 75 of them.

Maybe it is time that FutureQuest step up and provide some assistance to resolve this issue and deal directly with Yahoo?

:dunno:

[Bob]

Hello,

Yahoo blocks on an individual IP address basis and the only system Yahoo has in place, that we are aware of, requires being aware of a specific domain and email address that is having a problem.

We are happy to search our logs for requested relevant information requested by Yahoo for anyone that is having a delivery problem so that you can try and get Yahoo to rectify any problem with your domain and their email system however we have no method other then that you have indicated of contacting Yahoo in regards to this issue.

As I mentioned in my other post this morning (http://www.aota.net/forums/showthread.php?postid=167283#post167283) probably the best tool for us to use to try and work with site owners regarding Yahoo email issues would be the Yahoo Feedback Loop however that tool has been unavailable for some Months, which in itself causes one to wonder...

In all the searches for failed Yahoo deliveries I have done there never has been any apparent rhyme or reason to their delaying.

I have seen one sender send 2 or 3 messages that are accepted and then one will get delayed then another will be accepted and then the next few will all be delayed. To make it more confusing I have seen up to three different reasons for failure for the same message provided by Yahoo and then boom they accept it.

To date we are not aware of anyone getting a response from Yahoo explaining why any delay or deferred happened and what specific steps that can be taken to avoid delayed deliveries to Yahoo.

I did some digging and as in the past it isn't just us...
http://www.nabble.com/-OT--Yahoo-Deferred-td15672350.html
http://ymailupdates.com/blog/2008/03/11/delays-responding-to-postmaster-requests/
http://www.mail-archive.com/mailman-users@python.org/msg48100.html

-Bob

[johnmcfarland]

After months of back and forth with Yahoo. I finally received this email. Will keep you posted on weather or not delays continue. Copy of mail:

Hello,

Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Mail.

If emails sent by your servers are being delivered to the Yahoo! Bulk
Mail folder or deferred, and you would like to prevent this from
occurring, please complete this application to help us determine where
your email is most appropriately delivered.

We ask that you provide responsive, complete, and truthful information.
Please note that by submitting this information to Yahoo!, you agree to
adhere to the Yahoo! Terms of Service (TOS). You may review these Terms
by visiting:

http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

1. Please provide all ACTIVE IP addresses you are currently using to
send mail:

Each IP address:

*IP Address:
*Mail Server Hostname:
*Primary Mail Server, Fail-Over Mail Server, Bulk Mail Server, Etc:

NOTE: At this time we can only consider active and correctly configured
mail servers/IP addresses for possible addition to the whitelist.

2. Do you have a dedicated IP address or do you use a shared mail
server/IP address (i.e., the mail server/IP address is hosted by a
service provider and is also being used by organizations other than your
own)? If you use a shared server, please specify which service provider
you use.

3. Please indicate all types of email being sent from the servers above,
e.g., personal/corporate emails, transactional mailings, mailing list
postings, marketing messages, and/or newsletters? (Indicate which IP
sends which type of mail, if applicable.)

4. If you send periodic or subscription-based mailings, please indicate
the means by which a user is signed up for your subscription list.

a) Do you take any steps to confirm that the subscription is valid,
or was initiated by the true owner of the email address?

5. How many subscribers do you currently have? And approximately how
many emails do you send on a monthly basis?

6. Do you remove email addresses from mailing list if emails to them
bounce--i.e., for soft (4xx) and hard (5xx) SMTP response codes?

a) If yes, how many bounced emails are required before you consider
an email address to be inactive and subject to removal from your list?

For soft bounces:

For hard bounces:

7. How long does it typically take for an email address to be removed
from your list once an unsubscribe request has been received?

8. Please provide the URL of your web site, including the links to your
Privacy Policy, Affiliate Policy, and/or Terms of Use pages, if
available.

9. Please copy and paste a text-only example of a recent mailing,
including the full Internet headers. Or, include the entire error
message you're seeing in your SMTP logs if email is being deferred or
blocked.

10. Where possible, Yahoo! uses DomainKeys to determine the original
sender of a message. Do you plan to or currently use DomainKeys to
authenticate your mailings?

(NOTE: Signing emails with DomainKeys does not guarantee whitelist
status or inbox placement. It may, however, make your mailings eligible
for our Complaint Feedback Loop (CFL) program. Basically, when you're
enrolled in the CFL program, you will be forwarded a copy of the sent
email every time a Yahoo! Mail users clicks on the "Spam" button for any
of your DomainKey-signed mail. Each complaint should be reviewed and
appropriate action should be taken to reduce your complaint rates.)

11. Please provide the following contact information:

Company name:
Contact Information (Name and Phone Number):
Postal Address:
Email address:

Once you have completed your application, please send your answers to:

mail-abuse-bulk@cc.yahoo-inc.com

IMPORTANT REMINDER: Due to security purposes, our custom messaging
system is unable to access HTML web pages or attachments. As such, as
opposed to sending an HTML formatted page or an attachment, we will need
you to copy and paste a text-only copy of any sample email that you are
providing us.

Your patience during this process is greatly appreciated.

Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Mail.

Regards,

John

Yahoo! Customer Care