Problem with Notification Emails for Members with a GMail Address

[Aragorn]

Greetings Everyone,



For some inexplicable reason, the people at Google have decided to add The One Truth to a blacklist because they regard the notification emails that our server sends out to members who have subscribed to threads, members who are receiving private messages and members who are being quoted in posts by other members, as "unsolicited emails". This problem is new as of today, because I have just gotten two bounce messages back in the server's inbox ─ pertaining to two separate members with GMail accounts ─ and this problem did not exist yet yesterday.

Naturally, I have filed a complaint with Google regarding this prejudice, but it'll remain to be seen how soon they will respond, if at all. Meanwhile, those of you with a GMail email address will not be receiving any more notifications until this issue has been remedied. Not that the server would have stopped sending them out to you, but GMail simply bounces them back to us without delivering them to your inbox.

We apologize for the inconvenience, but we've already been in this situation before, with Hotmail/outlook.com, which is owned by Microsoft. And in their case, the problem still hasn't been remedied, because they're not exactly cooperative, and they require that every Hotmail/outlook.com user would whitelist us individually. I certainly hope that Google would be a little more cooperative, but I wouldn't be surprised if they're not.

Fingers crossed...

With respect,
Aragorn.

[Aragorn]

Follow-up...: My complaint email to Google bounced. With a lot of seeking and patience, I was able to get to one of their help pages, which contained instructions on how to modify our DNS settings so that they would comply with Google's new security policy.

I've done exactly what the page told me to do, but I still have to manually verify our domain name through Google's DNS. The problem is, DNS servers don't get updated in real-time ─ it can take anywhere from a few minutes all the way up to 24 hours, depending on how the DNS is set up. And I have now been trying to get jandeane81.com verified for the last half hour, but so far no luck yet. I'll see if I can complete the procedure tomorrow, because it's already past 04:30 in the morning over here and I can barely see out of my eyes anymore. <sigh>

[Aragorn]

Another follow-up... It has been 11 hours now since I've amended our DNS records for compliance with Google's new policy, but upon trying to get our domain verified through Google's Postmaster page, I keep getting the following error message... :

	Your verification DNS TXT record was not found. You might need to wait a few minutes before Google sees your changes to the TXT records.

Those "few minutes" do appear to last an eternity over at Google's headquarters. Maybe they're caught in a gravitational time dilation field or something.

Now, I am certain that I've done everything right ─ there's not much you can do wrong with regard to those settings anyway ─ and I'm afraid there's nothing else I can do anymore at this point. But then again, the Google developers and management appear to be living in a different universe, where tech companies now make up the law. And of course, by forcing us to include Google-specific authorization strings in our DNS records, they are now better able to monitor us and track us ─ and you! This is not just arrogance, this is corporate fascism right there, folks. And sadly enough, they're not the only corporation that demands that everyone would comply with their rules. Microsoft is also doing this ─ cfr. our problems with Hotmail, as you can read here.

Anyway, I'm not seeing any new bounce messages in the server's inbox anymore, but the above error message suggests that the problem still persists. It would therefore be helpful ─ even if only as a follow-up ─ if those members who have put a GMail address in their profile and who are supposed to be receiving notification emails for thread subscriptions and/or private messages were to report here on the thread whether they are, in effect, now receiving their notifications again.

Maggie? Chris? You two are the ones I got bounce messages in the server's inbox for yesterday.

[Emil El Zapato]

Hi Aragorn,

This is a 'big' problem with the tech giants (in my estimation)...actually, it is OUR problem because they are constantly shifting and patching security protocols in complete disregard of the huge impact on entities that are dependent on support...They move and the masses have no option period but to move along with them.

[Aragorn]

Hi Aragorn,

This is a 'big' problem with the tech giants (in my estimation)...actually, it is OUR problem because they are constantly shifting and patching security protocols in complete disregard of the huge impact on entities that are dependent on support...They move and the masses have no option period but to move along with them.

I completely agree. It's all part of their respective strategies to obtain a monopoly. Microsoft has been doing this for years on account of the software they develop.

One of the complaints that us GNU/Linux advocates used to get from Microsoft fanboys was that GNU/Linux was (allegedly) not compatible with certain Microsoft-specific document and filesystem formats. However, this was a complete misrepresentation of the facts, because GNU/Linux is compatible with all internationally agreed-upon standards, while at the same time, Microsoft's own "standards" were specific to Microsoft only, and subject to constant modification in order to sabotage interoperability with non-Microsoft platforms. By consequence, any company that fell into the trap of trusting their IT infrastructure to Microsoft products became inevitably trapped by what is known in the industry as vendor lock-in ─ i.e. a situation where you are depending on and at the mercy of a single vendor, because only their software allows you to access your data.

In Google's case, it's not so much a matter of vendor lock-in as it is a matter of controlling all internet traffic, and like you say, the masses have no option but to agree. So in the end, it boils down to the same thing, namely corporate megalomania, and thus textbook fascism^[*]. There's a reason as to why Google is in a constant legal battle with the European Union on account of their violations of the law and their abuse of people's private information. And Google isn't the only such tech giant to clash with the EU either. Microsoft has also already clashed with the EU many times before in the past on account of their monopolism, and Facebook is currently also still heavily under investigation.

[*] For those who still haven't properly understood what fascism is, it is a society in which the corporations dictate the policy, and in which the politicians in government are only marionettes for the corporations behind them.

Anyway, I'm hoping some of our GMail-using members will be reporting back that they are now receiving notifications again. Because if they don't, then I don't know what else I could possibly do to overcome this newest manifestation of corporatitis.

[Emil El Zapato]

for sure, and, of course, Microsoft is still at it...requiring anyone that wants to 'update' their software platforms to adhere to Microsoft's tech specifications for low level hardware/software interface code. Some companies are not willing to do this any longer. I worked on a UNIX/Linux platform for a fair while. Open software specifications have done a pretty good job of leveling the playing field.

[palooka's revenge]

I completely agree. It's all part of their respective strategies to obtain a monopoly. Microsoft has been doing this for years on account of the software they develop.

many are seeing this for what it is. the same goes on in all the various 'systems' that span the spectrum from gov to business to social and so on. watch this unfold in the next great high jackings - alt energies and hemp. the take over has already begun.

so... it is being seen for what it is... but... what to do about it??? there is only one redemption that could be effective AND sustainable... we have to begin to reclaim our personal power because denied personal power is what is fueling the power positions in all these intimidating forms...

[Kathy]

Sorry to hear about this, Aragorn. Is google in fact stopping people making contact with you? Does this mean that google is penalising those who do want to make contact with you? Seems like an inconvenient interference.

[Aragorn]

Sorry to hear about this, Aragorn. Is google in fact stopping people making contact with you? Does this mean that google is penalising those who do want to make contact with you? Seems like an inconvenient interference.

No, Kathy, Google is ─ was? ─ preventing The One Truth members with a GMail address set in their account from receiving notification emails from the server when there is an update to a thread these members have subscribed to, or when they have received a private message, or when they are being quoted. These notification emails all bounce without that those members get to see them, and then the server's inbox is being flooded with bounce messages.

In other words, Google has decided that it should become the arbiter on whether The One Truth is sending out legitimate emails to members with a GMail address. Had they bothered to look at the subject line of those notification emails, then they would have known, but considering that they're doing almost everything via an A.I. of their own design these days, you can expect the simplest of things to go wrong.

[Kathy]

Gmail sounds pointless and each Gmail user member could check that they have not blocked notifications.
I have been told that google is closing down some of their facilities, so maybe each mail member could sign up to hotmail.

[Aragorn]

Gmail sounds pointless and each Gmail user member could check that they have not blocked notifications.
I have been told that google is closing down some of their facilities, so maybe each mail member could sign up to hotmail.

Hotmail is even worse, Kathy, as you can read here.

Also, it's not the GMail users themselves whose settings are blocking our notifications ─ it is Google itself. They now demand that our DNS ("domain name system") should contain special records with Google-supplied code strings so as to allow any GMail account at all to receive emails from our domain. I have added those records, but I don't know whether it was successful, given that I could not get Google to validate the amendments to our DNS.

[Kathy]

Maybe you should have a conversation with someone at Vbulletin about a resolution to the problem.

[Aragorn]

Maybe you should have a conversation with someone at Vbulletin about a resolution to the problem.

This is completely unrelated to vBulletin, Kathy. The problem was created by Google itself, and it pertains to anything hosted under our domain, above and beyond the vBulletin installation. Google has adopted a strategy whereby they automatically blacklist all email sent to GMail users from domains that Google has not approved of, making themselves the arbiter ─ or censor, if you will ─ of what emails their users may receive. Worse than that, even, because it also allows them to keep track of the email behavior of their users.

But of course, they are doing it all while hiding under the pretense that it's a measure to protect their users from spam ─ read: from spam that wasn't sent out by Google itself or by its corporate partners, because Google gathers its fortune by selling personalized advertisements ─ and in their twisted logic, every domain is apparently guilty until proven innocent. The arrogance is astounding, albeit not unique, because Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon are all just as arrogant nowadays. It's the purest corporatocracy.

Now, in order to have one's domain approved by Google, one has to add a specific zone record to the DNS for one's domain ─ the DNS ("domain name system") is what translates a domain name into an IP address, because routers do not understand domain names and work by way of IP addresses only. I have applied the changes to our DNS that Google demands ─ and I've also applied the same amendment to the DNS server at Eye-Rise ─ but until the members with a GMail account whose notifications bounced ─ in this case, Maggie and Chris ─ report back to me, I have no idea whether it works.


P.S.: In the spirit of inter-forum cooperation, I have also apprised Project Avalon of the problem and given them the instructions on how to remedy it.

[Chris]

This is completely unrelated to vBulletin, Kathy. The problem was created by Google itself, and it pertains to anything hosted under our domain, above and beyond the vBulletin installation. Google has adopted a strategy whereby they automatically blacklist all email sent to GMail users from domains that Google has not approved of, making themselves the arbiter ─ or censor, if you will ─ of what emails their users may receive. Worse than that, even, because it also allows them to keep track of the email behavior of their users.

But of course, they are doing it all while hiding under the pretense that it's a measure to protect their users from spam ─ read: from spam that wasn't sent out by Google itself or by its corporate partners, because Google gathers its fortune by selling personalized advertisements ─ and in their twisted logic, every domain is apparently guilty until proven innocent. The arrogance is astounding, albeit not unique, because Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon are all just as arrogant nowadays. It's the purest corporatocracy.

Now, in order to have one's domain approved by Google, one has to add a specific zone record to the DNS for one's domain ─ the DNS ("domain name system") is what translates a domain name into an IP address, because routers do not understand domain names and work by way of IP addresses only. I have applied the changes to our DNS that Google demands ─ and I've also applied the same amendment to the DNS server at Eye-Rise ─ but until the members with a GMail account whose notifications bounced ─ in this case, Maggie and Chris ─ report back to me, I have no idea whether it works.


P.S.: In the spirit of inter-forum cooperation, I have also apprised Project Avalon of the problem and given them the instructions on how to remedy it.

I did get a notification email at 1:42 PM today, so I guess the issue is fixed.

As a side note, this affects far bigger players as well. One of our partner companies at work, a major firm in Poland, couldn't send emails to any of its gmail-based customers (we use gmail for our company work emails, exclusively) for the same reason and it took them weeks to remedy the issue. We had to resort to using whatsapp to communicate with each other, send files, invoices, purchase orders, catalogues, etc...

It just shows you that relying on Google for all of your communications is not necessarily a good idea, they really are incredibly arrogant and act like a monopoly would, pretty much.

[Aragorn]

I did get a notification email at 1:42 PM today, so I guess the issue is fixed.

Phew! Thanks for letting me know.

As a side note, this affects far bigger players as well. One of our partner companies at work, a major firm in Poland, couldn't send emails to any of its gmail-based customers (we use gmail for our company work emails, exclusively) for the same reason and it took them weeks to remedy the issue. We had to resort to using whatsapp to communicate with each other, send files, invoices, purchase orders, catalogues, etc...

Um, I understand that you guys were looking for an alternative, but you do know who owns WhatsApp these days, right? (In case you don't, it's owned by none other than Facebook.)

It just shows you that relying on Google for all of your communications is not necessarily a good idea, they really are incredibly arrogant and act like a monopoly would, pretty much.

Yes, but it's not just them. All tech companies are behaving as arrogant monopolists these days. Like I said, it's a corporatocracy.