[grc] Question about Google blocking e-mails to radio station deejay list

[UnderCurrents Radio]

Hi Leigh,

Services like Constant Contact and Mail Chimp are designed to solve this very problem.  They send messages with individual addresses in a way that is unlikely to trigger a spam filter.  Squarespace also has an optional mail service built into its web environment.

Hope this helps!

Gregg

Gregg McVicar
www.undercurrentsradio.net <http://www.undercurrentsradio.net/>



> On Feb 22, 2021, at 10:12 AM, Leigh Robartes via grc <grc at maillist.peak.org> wrote:
> 
> I have a question for those who are in charge of e-mail lists for deejays at stations, or perhaps for the administrator of this list.   Our e-mail list administrator was noting some e-mails sent to our modest e-mail list (about 160 addresses, since paired down to 77 addresses) are sometimes being blocked by Google, at least the ones sent to gmail addresses.   Our e-mail list is an important organizing tool, and a good way to keep in touch w/ former deejays who might want to start volunteering again now that Covid has changed their life around.
> 
> 
> The administrator claims that if we move our e-mail list to Google Services we would avoid the problem, but obviously we can't do this for ethical reasons, mainly because (as I am told) moving to Google Services would mean all of our @krfp.org accounts would be become disguised @gmail.com accounts.   Google has been harvesting the actual text of e-mail messages sent and received from gmail accounts for years, and although they apparently no longer sell that info for advertising purposes, the company still has cached everything written, which is a violation of privacy.
> 
> 
> We got a list of e-mail messages Google blocked from an ISP and a message from a tech there who wrote:
> 
> 
> <<<begin snip>>>
> 
> 
> to accept email from other servers, the spf record contains “?all”, meaning make up your own mind about accepting email from servers not listed. Google deems all email sent from a server not listed as spam and rejects it. The line:
> 
> “This is the mail system at host _ofagrave02.hostedemail.com_ <http://ofagrave02.hostedemail.com/>” suggest the email is coming from email system not among those listed in your spf record. Best guess, since Google doesn’t publish how they make up their minds about an email.
> 
> The other possibility is pointed to by the “_https://support.google.com/mail/?p=UnsolicitedRateLimitError_ <https://support.google.com/mail/?p=UnsolicitedRateLimitError> to 421 4.7.28.” The numbers at the end refer to email being sent at a rate higher than Google allows – for example, from a bulk email program or service.
> 
> Google is very aggressive.
> 
> 
> <<<end snip>>>
> 
> 
> The above message implies Google is not letting _non-spam_ e-mails through, justifying the practice by saying they are suspected spam.
> 
> 
> _My Question:_
> 
> 
> How can you operate an e-mail list (some of them, such as GRC, which have hundreds of addresses) without getting messages blocked and without going through Google Services?  Do we need to change to a different service?   What do you use? Have you been able to avoid problems like this?
> 
> 
> -- 
> Leigh Robartes
> Station Manager
> KRFP / Radio Free Moscow, Inc.
> 90.3 FM
> Moscow, Idaho
> 
> 208 892 9300
> 
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