Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Some places where you can learn more about spam and how to report it include:

• http://spam.abuse.net/ The Great Granddaddy of all anti-spam sites
  
• http://www.abuse.net/ The Network Abuse Clearinghouse (abuse addresses)
  
• http://spamcop.net/fom-serve/cache/19.html (how to view full headers)
  
• (archived) http://www.stopspam.org/email/headers.html (header-reading tutorial)
  
• http://www.pop-cram-spam.net/SMTP.htm (archived) basics of Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP, or e-mail)

Can registrars suspend domains for spam and abuse?
Yes! They need an anti-spam Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) which they can enforce. And most do. Registrars can also suspend domains for bad "whois" information:

Abuse Control Resources by spamhaus.org

SPAM BOX
The “SPAM” box is the box where you see all of those emails that are labeled as spam end up. If you have a Yahoo email account, then you will be very familiar with the little box below all of the others, and it's the box you very rarely check. (Other then to empty it!)

RBL
RBL stands for “Real-time Blocking List” or “Real-time Black List”. To see an example of an RBL in action, go to www.spews.org
You can type in an IP address in the search form, and it will do a search for that IP address, and tell you if the IP has been blacklisted. There are several of these RBL's, and many service providers use them to determine if an IP address that they are receiving email from is blacklisted.

The First Step
The first step in getting your email address and IP address whitelisted is to first make sure you're not already blacklisted!
To find out if your IP address has been blacklisted, go to:
http://www.spews.org/ , and type in your IP address, and do a search.

NOTE: The IP address that you do a search on MUST be the IP address that is used by your emailing system, NOT your personal IP address.

To make sure you're checking the proper IP address, ask your email service provider for the proper IP address that your email goes out on when you do a mailing.
The next place you need to check for blacklisting, is at Google Groups. Go to: http://groups.google.com/ , and do a search using your IP address once again.
If you add your IP address there, and nothing comes up, then your IP address is probably clean. But, I have one last check for you to do.
Go to: http://www.whois.sc/ , and again, type in your IP address that your email goes out on. If all goes well, you should see a “reverse DNS entry there, and that reverse DNS entry will be the same IP address.
If it is not, then you have a problem. In order to be whitelisted, one of the requirements is that you have the same reverse DNS entry as you do for your outgoing email IP address.
Most likely you do, but if for some reason you do not, then you will need to find an email service provider that has the same reverse IP address DNS entry as the outgoing IP.

NOTE: When I say “email service provider”, I am referring to whoever handles the sending of your emails to your list, either an email auto-responder service, or something else, they must comply with these rules, or you will not be whitelisted.

One last place that you may want to check you IP address is at:
http://www.us.sorbs.com/ . Again, this is all about making sure that you have a clean IP address before trying to get whitelisted.