No more email notifications for my posts or watched topics

Jim Cooley · Post by **Jim Cooley** » 12 Dec 2017 6:26 pm

I suddenly stopped receiving email notifications when someone replies to one of my posts or posts to a topic I am watching. The "Notify me when a reply is posted" check box is selected. I double-checked the bottom of the pages to make sure I am still watching the topics. The emails do not go to my SPAM folder.

Carl Kilmer · Post by **Carl Kilmer** » 13 Dec 2017 5:54 am

I'm having the same problems since the forum update.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 13 Dec 2017 8:35 am

Me also.

Jim Cooley · Post by **Jim Cooley** » 13 Dec 2017 10:35 am

I also noticed that I'm not getting emails notifying me when someone sends me a PM.

I have not changed email providers or email settings.

admin · Post by **b0b** » 13 Dec 2017 10:56 am

My tests show that the system is sending them, and some people are getting them. My hunch is that it's a spam filter or security setting in some email programs that's rejecting the new IP address. I'm not sure how to fix it.

NOTICE: Please read the last page of this topic for the latest developments.

Ian Worley · Post by **Ian Worley** » 13 Dec 2017 11:35 am

Same issue. I just changed the email in my profile from an AT&T account to a gmail account. I'll report back

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 13 Dec 2017 11:52 am

Nothing yet.

Ian Worley · Post by **Ian Worley** » 13 Dec 2017 12:14 pm

Nothing in gmail after Erv's reply. Will try another address in my profile

admin · Post by **b0b** » 13 Dec 2017 12:29 pm

I've been receiving these notifications at bob@steelguitarnews.com without problems. That domain routes through to gmail, which is where I set up my filters and read everything.

Notice that gmail thinks the email could be a spoof. It's not. I don't know why it thinks that.

Jeff Garden · Post by **Jeff Garden** » 13 Dec 2017 1:26 pm

I've noticed the same "lack of notification" issue as well (I have an aol mail address and use Firefox if that makes any difference)... not sure time-wise if it coincides with the Forum upgrade or the recent Firefox upgrade to Firefox Quantum (57.0.2)

Ian Worley · Post by **Ian Worley** » 13 Dec 2017 11:36 pm

Switching my profile email from an AT&T account to a gmail account seems to have resolved the notification issue.

b0b wrote:...Notice that gmail thinks the email could be a spoof. It's not. I don't know why it thinks that...

Does the forum notification script use the PHP sendmail function, or does it route the notifications through an smtp server? I've had problems in the past with contact forms that used sendmail, the receiving server couldn't validate the sender so it would fail often. I ended up using a different script that resolves that by routing the form mail through the host's smtp server. Just a thought.

Thanks again for all you do b0b.

admin · Post by **b0b** » 13 Dec 2017 11:44 pm

I believe it uses the PHP sendmail function.

Earlier this evening I discovered that the MX record in DNS was still pointing to the old server. I fixed that. Not sure if that will make a difference.

Ian Worley · Post by **Ian Worley** » 14 Dec 2017 12:08 am

The MX record should not matter for sending mail, particularly from a PHP script, but it occurs to me that the sendmail script using an external gmail address could create an issue. It makes sense that gmail would flag it because gmail did not actually send it. Even though they are legit, the notifications technically are spoofed. Is there a reason for not using a local email address that a remote server could validate, i.e. "notification@steelguitarforum.com"?

admin · Post by **b0b** » 14 Dec 2017 12:50 am

I've set it to noreply@bb.steelguitarforum.com - let's see if that makes a difference.

Jon Light · Post by **Jon Light** » 14 Dec 2017 2:30 am

b0b wrote:I've set it to noreply@bb.steelguitarforum.com - let's see if that makes a difference.

Just fyi, I have not been getting email notifications either....not on my participation threads, not on threads I've flagged to watch. That includes this thread and that includes after this latest change.

Jim Cooley · Post by **Jim Cooley** » 14 Dec 2017 11:00 am

The changes do not appear to have made a difference for me. I'm still not getting any forum email notifications. I haven't changed ISP, email provider/account, or settings.

I just added noreply@bb.steelguitarforum.com to my trusted domains. I'll see if that fixes it.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 14 Dec 2017 11:24 am

Same with me.

Ian Worley · Post by **Ian Worley** » 14 Dec 2017 11:39 am

It seems most likely that the issue is related to server validation. The emails are being rejected at the server level, so user-side spam filters etc. won't make any difference.

So I guess the MX record you edited last night could make a difference that might still affect some if the change hasn't propagated to their specific DNS server yet. There is a way to set up a specific reverse pointer in DNS so that remote servers can ping and resolve the sending server to the domain. Perhaps the host's tech support can help with that. It's a bit more involved than adding a normal MX record

Perhaps those who are still having an issue could list their email provider domains here so b0b has some better data to locate the problem.

I was having this issue with an "@pacbell.net" address, which is an att.com domain

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 14 Dec 2017 12:02 pm

I just got one!

Jim Cooley · Post by **Jim Cooley** » 14 Dec 2017 4:05 pm

Good idea, Ian. My domian address is:

@embarqmail.com

Jeff Garden · Post by **Jeff Garden** » 14 Dec 2017 4:08 pm

I think I'm all fixed now....

admin · Post by **b0b** » 14 Dec 2017 6:33 pm

Is everybody good now? Watch this topic and let us know when you start receiving notifications about it. I've been working on this today.

Jim Cooley · Post by **Jim Cooley** » 14 Dec 2017 8:29 pm

Got it! Thanks, b0b!

admin · Post by **b0b** » 14 Dec 2017 8:34 pm

got the notification?

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 14 Dec 2017 8:45 pm

Got one this evening that came from "noreply"