VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[mcm]

On a couple of occasions in the last two weeks I have been in correspondence with someone with a Comcast email address and have had my address spam-blocked during the course of it. I think it must have something to do with the subject line not being changed so there are two or more emails going to the recipient with the same subject line. This is something new. To me anyway.

One of my correspondants was a potential client with whom I was exchanging emails about audition materials and she had requested something from me. She did not receive any notification of a blocked email, but I did.

The second occasion the correspondant was my sister and I sent her two emails with the same subject line ("re: kouign-aman", which is the obviously subversive Breton butter cake). By the next morning I was able to get an email to her so there is apparently a refractory period, it isn't a permanent block. I have only two data points now, but it's enough to make me worry.

So, if you're writing to someone with a Comcast email address, you might want to make sure to change the subject line if you're having an exchange. If you have a Comcast email address, you might consider using your web host's email service or some other service, and if you think this problem is affecting you, complain.

[Charlie Channel]

Yes, Comcast has a blacklist of e-mail domains that it filters.

The situation is this: If somebody utilizes your ISP's gateway to SPAM, the entire domain is blocked (or blacklisted) by Comcast, or at least it had been blocked. A friend of mine does research for a living as a Web Worker and she had the exact same problem with potential clients and one active client. It was very frustrating. Ultimately, the problem was resolved. I believe it involved contacting the sender's ISP who had to contact Comcast. And, she also got another E-mail address with HotMail just to make sure she always had a path.

C

[mcm]

Charlie, this did not seem to be a case of somebody else's spam causing my address to be blocked, because it happened in the middle of an email exchange.

Of course, I can't say for sure, because with the volume of email in the world I suppose it's possible that somebody else at bluehost spammed comcast and caused all bluehost's email addresses to be blocked in the middle of my exchange on two different occasions.

And why would I be unblocked within a few hours?

Do you think my theory about subject lines has any validity?

Thanks for your insights Charlie. I really don't know how this stuff works.