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VAF Email Notifications

grayforge

Well Known Member
I posted this question before, but it may have been in the temporary forum and is now gone. Maybe a long term forum would be better :)

The thread was about the lack of email notification for many of us. While many are signed up for notifications of thread responses, we get none. We suspect that it's being flagged as Spam somewhere along the line. Alas, it's not in my email client. I think another poster said it was possibly because there is no return address in the email.

DR, did you get a chance to look into this and set up a return address?

Thanks!
Russ
 
I get email notices for PMs. Also get email that folks send through VAF. Actually have had both this morning.

I suspect Dougs side of things is working fine, and the issue is on your end.
 
Count me in on the email issue,,

I never get an email notifications for any of my subscribed threads,, and my spam repository on my iSP is checked regularly.

I have tried several times over the years to reset, change,,, to no avail.

For me, it's no big deal, just means I have to visit the VAF on a routine (read: hourly :) basis!
 
Thanks for the response Mike, but quite a number of VAF folks have the problem. I imagine our ISPs are a bit more restrictive on allowing email without the proper parameters through. I don't have anything from VAF in my mail client's spam folder.

I suppose I could set up a new email address on another system, like gmail or yahoo, but it'd be best to fix everyone's issue with a configuration change on the VAF side. :)

I do get email notifications from other forums I'm on: Subaru Forum, Corvette Forum, Ducati, etc.
 
I have the same problem. I've never gotten a single email and am subscribed to quite a few threads.
 
I do check VAF multiple times a day. But there are situations where I'd prefer an immediate notification, like a PM regarding an item I'm interested in in the classifieds :)
 
I used to get emails about all threads, then they all went away about 2 years ago. Recently I started getting a few emails again, but not always. Go figure!

Greg
 
It's because the alerts from VaF are sent without a From email address. So email filters will sometimes catch that as invalid and mark it as spam. If DR would add a from email address to the forum settings the reception rate of emails would be much more consistent for everyone.
 
It's because the alerts from VaF are sent without a From email address. So email filters will sometimes catch that as invalid and mark it as spam. If DR would add a from email address to the forum settings the reception rate of emails would be much more consistent for everyone.

It probably doesn't even need to be a valid email address. :)

I'll send DR a link to this thread in case he hasn't noticed it yet.
 
I just changed my email address on VAF from my custom domain/hosting service email to a generic gmail address. I'll see if that lets me get notifications while we wait for a fix on the VAF forum side. :)
 
Got Notified

Well, wouldn't you know, after I posted above, I did get an email notification of the next post on the thread!

I have a gmail account, FWIW.

?????
 
And I just got my first VAF notification of your post. So it's definitely that some hosting services and ISPs are more restrictive than others... unless DR made a change today. :)
 
I just changed my email to a @me.com address and just got my first notification ever. Must have something to do with where it goes with the current setup of where it's from.
 
I Live Without Notification

I am using a gmail address and mine still goes to my spam folder because of the lack of information in the "From" address line.

Does anyone have the from address?

Or a solution so I can receive email notifications?
 
It's a setting that needs to be done in the forums vbulletin config, by the site owner.

The best you can do at this time is to create a rule in gmail (or other email app) that takes messages with certain words in the subject and marks them as "not spam"
 
I am using a gmail address and mine still goes to my spam folder because of the lack of information in the "From" address line.

Does anyone have the from address?

Or a solution so I can receive email notifications?
There is a solution but it takes action from the website administrator to make it happen.
 
I am using a gmail address and mine still goes to my spam folder because of the lack of information in the "From" address line.

Does anyone have the from address?

Or a solution so I can receive email notifications?

You could create a filter that will mark it as "not spam". You have to do it from a "real" computer, not a phone or tablet (and that includes the web interface from a browser), because the "don't mark as spam" option doesn't appear except on the real computer.
 
Since it's a little complicated for people who might not be familiar with filters in GMail:

In your Gmail, click the "Gear" icon in the upper right portion of the screen, then choose the "Settings" menu option. A new screen appears. Click the "Filters and Blocked Addresses" link near the top middle of the screen, then click the "Create a new filter" link lower on the screen.

A smaller sub-window will appear where you can configure the filter settings. Under the "Has the words" option, enter "VAF Forums" (including the quotes) and then click the "Continue" link in the lower right. On the next page, check the "Never send it to Spam" option. Click the Update Filter button.

That will create a filter which will cause all future emails with "VAF Forums" somewhere in the email to be placed in your inbox when received, rather than your Spam folder.

I emailed Doug a while back and he indicated there was an update to the forums that would happen at some point in the future which should resolve this, but wasn't clear when. This filter will work around the problem in the meanwhile.
 
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Since it's a little complicated for people who might not be familiar with filters in GMail:

In your Gmail, click the "Gear" icon in the upper right portion of the screen, then choose the "Settings" menu option. A new screen appears. Click the "Filters and Blocked Addresses" link near the top middle of the screen, then click the "Create a new filter" link lower on the screen.

A smaller sub-window will appear where you can configure the filter settings. Under the "Has the words" option, enter "VAF Forums" (including the quotes) and then click the "Continue" link in the lower right. On the next page, check the "Never send it to Spam" option. Click the Update Filter button.

That will create a filter which will cause all future emails with "VAF Forums" somewhere in the email to be placed in your inbox when received, rather than your Spam folder.

I emailed Doug a while back and he indicated there was an update to the forums that would happen at some point in the future which should resolve this, but wasn't clear when. This filter will work around the problem in the meanwhile.

Thanks, the gmail filter worked!!!
 
My problems started earlier this year, IIRC. Probably early spring.

Gmail's error message is quite specific, if you look at the email in the spam folder while using the web browser gmail interface (not a client like Thunderbird, etc).

I emailed Doug about this with the specific info several months ago, but never got any response.

Note that 'you' in these messages is referring to the sender (VAF); not us, the recipients.

quote:
Why is this message in Spam? It is in violation of Google's recommended email sender guidelines.
unquote

And details:
quote:

Authentication & Identification
To ensure that Gmail can identify you:

Use a consistent IP address to send bulk mail.
Keep valid reverse DNS records for the IP address(es) from which you send mail, pointing to your domain.
Use the same address in the 'From:' header on every bulk mail you send.
We also recommend the following:

Sign messages with DKIM. We do not authenticate messages signed with keys using fewer than 1024 bits.
Publish an SPF record.
Publish a DMARC policy.
Learn more about email authentication.

Additional guidelines for IPv6

The sending IP must have a PTR record (i.e., a reverse DNS of the sending IP) and it should match the IP obtained via the forward DNS resolution of the hostname specified in the PTR record. Otherwise, mail will be marked as spam or possibly rejected.
The sending domain should pass either SPF check or DKIM check. Otherwise, mail might be marked as spam.
unquote.
 
It would be nice anyway, independent from the trouble it causes with spam filters, if the e-mails from VAF would include the from information.

AFAIK, this is just a setting in the forum software.
 
It Worked

Greg, thanks your detailed information made it work.

Since it's a little complicated for people who might not be familiar with filters in GMail:

In your Gmail, click the "Gear" icon in the upper right portion of the screen, then choose the "Settings" menu option. A new screen appears. Click the "Filters and Blocked Addresses" link near the top middle of the screen, then click the "Create a new filter" link lower on the screen.

A smaller sub-window will appear where you can configure the filter settings. Under the "Has the words" option, enter "VAF Forums" (including the quotes) and then click the "Continue" link in the lower right. On the next page, check the "Never send it to Spam" option. Click the Update Filter button.

That will create a filter which will cause all future emails with "VAF Forums" somewhere in the email to be placed in your inbox when received, rather than your Spam folder.

I emailed Doug a while back and he indicated there was an update to the forums that would happen at some point in the future which should resolve this, but wasn't clear when. This filter will work around the problem in the meanwhile.
 
I see it has been a couple years since this thread started. Did anyone ever check with Doug to see what is up with no sender email address for VAF notifications?
 
You can use gmail's 'filter' system (detailed in earlier posts) to force the emails into your inbox or another folder that you specify. It's a kludge workaround, but you can force them into your inbox with some effort. if you use gmail's standard web browser for your email client, you'll get a message bar from gmail above each message saying that you forced the message into your inbox over gmail's warning that something may be wrong with it.

I'm not sure why the owner of this forum won't fix the issue; I'm a member on dozens of other forums, some of which seem to use the same software package, and none of the others have this issue.

Charlie

[ed. The owner (me) is in the process of upgrading the server, so this e-mail issue is on a back burner. v/r,dr]
 
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Well done! Looking forward to not checking the site 3 times an hour for replies to my messages!!!


Since it's a little complicated for people who might not be familiar with filters in GMail:

In your Gmail, click the "Gear" icon in the upper right portion of the screen, then choose the "Settings" menu option. A new screen appears. Click the "Filters and Blocked Addresses" link near the top middle of the screen, then click the "Create a new filter" link lower on the screen.

A smaller sub-window will appear where you can configure the filter settings. Under the "Has the words" option, enter "VAF Forums" (including the quotes) and then click the "Continue" link in the lower right. On the next page, check the "Never send it to Spam" option. Click the Update Filter button.

That will create a filter which will cause all future emails with "VAF Forums" somewhere in the email to be placed in your inbox when received, rather than your Spam folder.

I emailed Doug a while back and he indicated there was an update to the forums that would happen at some point in the future which should resolve this, but wasn't clear when. This filter will work around the problem in the meanwhile.
 
Resurrecting this thread... any other Gmail users notice recently that VAF email notifications are broken again? I have my Gmail filter set up as per this post, but I haven't received any notification emails since the 10th of this month. They're not getting deleted or going to spam, they're just not there.
 
The last notification I received (I checked trash, spam & junk folders) was on 12-11-18.

I also note that all the forum pages are now showing up in Chrome as *Not secure* (no https in the url).

Charlie
 
I also note that all the forum pages are now showing up in Chrome as *Not secure* (no https in the url).

I don't think the site has ever had SSL enabled, at least since I've been visiting.
 
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Resurrecting this thread... any other Gmail users notice recently that VAF email notifications are broken again? I have my Gmail filter set up as per this post, but I haven't received any notification emails since the 10th of this month. They're not getting deleted or going to spam, they're just not there.

Me. Just gone. Not in spam folder or anywhere else.

[ed. I haven't changed anything on my end. I'll ask my ISP. v/r/dr]
 
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Me Too

I received emails without a problem for 10 years. Just stopped getting them a couple of weeks ago.

I did notice the missing / blank "From:" address on the VAF emails months ago.

[ed. I'll reach out to my ISP. I didn't change anything. b,d]
 
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Same here, no longer getting emails. Was fine up until sometime in December.

[ed. Support call with ISP is in. b,dr]
 
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I've never received an email either. I looked for the welcome email and it's not there.

To the admin: if you are using the vansairforce.com domain to send mail, you need to configure MX and SPF records and you need to be signing emails with DKIM. Without these configured you're going to get blackholed by all the major email hosts.

I'd seriously consider using an email service to send mail. Sendgrid, mailgun, postmark, or even AWS SES.

[ed. My ISP is looking into it. b,dr]
 
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Check your Junk folder. It appears that VAF is on quite a few email "black lists." I use hotmail and the VAF messages have always gone to the junk folder. Kind of annoying as I don't check it very often.

Doug needs to interface with the appropriate folks to get white listed. The administrator needs to prove the emails are notifications and not spam to get on the white list. Pretty simple when there is a user subscription process. They are not legally allowed to block messages that you subcribed to. However, the burden of proof is on the sending domain and not the email services or receiving systems. Most share a few universal black/white lists. I sold automated email software solutions to the corporate world back in the early days, when spam was just beginning to become a problem. Like most early things on the internet, the spam started with Porn.

Larry
 
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Check your Junk folder. It appears that VAF is on quite a few email "black lists." I use hotmail and the VAF messages have always gone to the junk folder. Kind of annoying as I don't check it very often.

Doug needs to interface with the appropriate folks to get white listed. The administrator needs to prove the emails are notifications and not spam to get on the white list. Pretty simple when there is a user subscription process. They are not legally allowed to block messages that you subcribed to. However, the burden of proof is on the sending domain and not the email services or receiving systems. Most share a few universal black/white lists. I sold automated email software solutions to the corporate world back in the early days, when spam was just beginning to become a problem. Like most early things on the internet, the spam started with Porn.

Larry

It's not on any blacklists according to mx toolbox (https://mxtoolbox.com/SuperTool.aspx?action=blacklist:vansairforce.com&run=toolpage)

The problem is going to be with the lack of MX and SPF records and DKIM/DMARC signatures. White lists don't really exist much anymore beyond the system MS uses (I can't recall its name off the top of my head but last I checked it costs thousands/year to join).

The emails that a forum send naturally trip the spam/phishing filters since they have phrases like "account", "log in", "unread message", etc. And without the SPF/DKIM data it's going to get effectively g-lined.
 
Check your Junk folder. It appears that VAF is on quite a few email "black lists." I use hotmail and the VAF messages have always gone to the junk folder. Kind of annoying as I don't check it very often.

Doug needs to interface with the appropriate folks to get white listed. The administrator needs to prove the emails are notifications and not spam to get on the white list. Pretty simple when there is a user subscription process. They are not legally allowed to block messages that you subcribed to. However, the burden of proof is on the sending domain and not the email services or receiving systems. Most share a few universal black/white lists. I sold automated email software solutions to the corporate world back in the early days, when spam was just beginning to become a problem. Like most early things on the internet, the spam started with Porn.

Larry

That's the 'old' problem. I'm set up for updates via a gmail account, and have had a workaround in place for the loooong time that the problem has existed with this forum. Around Dec 12 2018, the notification messages stopped appearing even in 'spam' or 'junk' folders. My bet is that the email providers are now refusing to pass any emails that don't have a valid sender address (which has been pointed out repeatedly).

Charlie
 
Invalid From: address

... My bet is that the email providers are now refusing to pass any emails that don't have a valid sender address (which has been pointed out repeatedly).

Charlie
As someone sort of in that business, I've been quite surprised over the years that the mails from VAF worked at all with an invalid From: address.

Code:
From: "VAF Forums" <>

[ed. i have a call into my isp. b,d]
 
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Email notifications seem to be working again as of February 2019. Notifications are being sent by "[email protected]" which seems to make things happier, at least for this Gmail user.
 
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