Marvin Gülker wrote:
I don't have that problem anymore since I pay for my SMTP relay provider. For me, the issue is solved. Before my personal mail (I'm not talking about mailing lists, just simple direct e-mail) was pretty much always sorted into the recipient's spam folder or directly rejected at the SMTP level (this was the case with both Microsoft and AOL; GMail usually filed my e-mail als spam). I looked up the reasons they gave in the SMTP reject; it was always bad reputation of IPs. Tools like mail-tester on the other hand say my e-mail and IP was fine, and delivery to small providers always went nicely. My mail server has never sent a single spam e-mail. I run it since years, and I am very sure that this never has happened. This mail server only hosts my and my family's e-mail.
Did you keep an eye on the reputation on the IP addresses you were sending from? Sometimes an IP address just doesn't send enough volume of mail to build one up. I do agree some providers do ignore the IP reputation of an IP address. For instance we had one that actually had a 100% reputation from SenderScore and it ran into a block with Microsoft. However the server had only been online for a few months and we placed a client there that increased the volume to Microsoft users. We did get that fixed. The key to Microsoft is to sign up for their Hotmail Feedback Loop. They also provide a nice interface (SNDS) that shows you what they think of your IP addresses so you can mitigate any potential delivery issues ahead of time.
Thus, I say they were rejecting my e-mail for no reason. Might be a hyperbole, but from my point of view, there was no reason. Again, the problem is now past with my workaround, so there is no need to investigate any further. I've given up on it. I don't believe you can have a VPS that directly delivers e-mail to the large providers successfully. The workaround with the SMTP relay provider still allows me to self-host, which fulfills my needs.
I disagree. We are a list hosting provider (Mailman 2 and 3) that has about a dozen of VPS servers that are categorized as high volume senders and we see great delivery rates. Our clients all use their own domain or sub-domains as for their list as well. The key for us has been to keep our clients' lists clean by enforcing reasonable bounce settings and screening new clients to make sure we don't mistakenly take on a spammer. We do work hard to maintain our IP reputations. Yahoo is the worst. They ignore everything, are hard to get a hold of, says they want you to join their feedback loop but don't actually respond to your attempts at doing so, etc. However once the IP address "warms up" (Yahoo's language, not ours) delivery rates are as good as the others.
The majority reason why messages ends up in Spam folders has nothing to do with the mail server at all. It is because the content of the message comes across as spammy, i.e. a message that contains several URLs, using exclamation points, etc.
Brian