[Mailman-Users] Some members not getting mail

[David Relson]

On Mon, 30 Aug 2004 00:03:49 -0400
Judy Petersen wrote:

> Thank you all for offering some pointers on getting our list running
> again. Ultimately, it had to be solved by a tech somewhere because the
> problem turned out to be system-wide.
> 
> Now that has calmed down, I wonder if any of you have suggestions for
> an ongoing problem. We have some members who suddenly don't get our
> mail anymore. We are a 'sharing' list so there are many emails every
> day.
> 
> We have them contact their ISP and troubleshoot. We help them check
> the settings in their email program. Sometimes we just unsub them and
> then resub and for a few that fixes the problem. However, there are
> some whose problem never seems to get solved but they can get the
> digest and they learn to live with that.
> 
> However, one of those subscribers is me! I've not been able to get
> mail for several months and depend totally on the digest. I actually
> got working again 2-3 times by unsub/resubbing but now that doesn't
> work anymore. Needless to say, it doesn't make me a very 'johnny on
> the spot' listkeeper!!
> 
> Does anyone have suggestions for straightening out these stubborn
> accounts? Is there a "trouble-shooting the setup of individuals" list
> floating around somewhere that might help or give me some more ideas
> of things to look for or try?
> 
> Thank you again for your good efforts.
> 
> Judy Petersen

Hello Judy,

I don't have a tried/true answer for you, just a couple of things to
check.

#1) If you have access to /var/log/syslog on the mailman machine and if
the mail program logs outgoing messages then there'll be records showing
when the messages went out and whether or not they were accepted.  For
example, a message from bogofilter at bogofilter.org to user at example.com
generated these messages:

Aug 29 23:50:31 nic postfix/smtp[26981]: connect to
mail.example.com[1.2.3.4]: Connection timed out (port 25)
Aug 29 23:50:31 nic postfix/smtp[26978]: EE1DA2FF5C:
to=<user+bogofilter at example.com>,..., status=deferred (connect to
mail.example.com[1.2.3.4]: Connection timed out)

Both show that the message wasn't delivered because the connection to
mail.example.com failed.

#2) Noticing "comcast.net" in your address, I remember all sorts of
horror stories about how they "filter spam" and don't tell their users.
Apparently they've also introduced a "turn off spam filtering"
capability for an extra $1 per month.  Here in Michigan, comcast has a
bad reputation.  Could comcast be filtering your email for you?         

HTH,

David