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AOL vs BlogSpot

We have multiple reports in Google Blogger Help that AOL is now filtering incoming email on "*.blogspot.com". If someone tries to send the URL of your blog (or their blog), in an email to an AOL customer, that email will be rejected, and the sender gets a return similar to
PERM_FAILURE: Gmail tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the recipient domain. The error that the other server returned was:
554 554-: (HVU:B1)http://postmaster.info.aol.com/errors/554hvub1.html
554 TRANSACTION FAILED.

This is apparently a natural result of the perceived BlogSpot spam blog problem. My suspicion is that AOL will suffer more than Google, by doing this. Blogger blog owners may be caught in the middle, unfortunately.

If your blog readership focuses upon AOL customers, you may do well to consider publishing your blog externally. Your BlogSpot URL won't go away - you'll just get a new, non-BlogSpot alias, that you can publicise in email. As in email, to AOL customers.

If you're an AOL customer, get a GMail account. GMail is free, and you should be able to have it extract your AOL email automatically, so you don't have to use the AOL interface.

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Comments

amr said…
Interestingly, this is only occurring with one of the 3 aol customers I correspond with regularly via email so I didn't understand what was going on at first. All was well once I removed the church blog from my signature but still seems like overkill to refuse everything containing a blogspot domain.
tsduff said…
As a long time AOL customer, I feel that they are being extremely unreasonable to block any and all emails generated by my blogspot url. I hope that Blogger's webmaster will contact AOL and get this resolved as it is very inconvenient.
Yeah, I just talked with a *brilliant* person at AOL about this issue. No lie, she asked me, "so do you own this blog, or do you own Blogger?" I said, "no... that would be Google."

With that said, it seems that their run-of-the-mill tech support is completely clueless as to this issue.
Hope this gets settled soon.

Thanks.
Nitecruzr said…
Chris,

I'll bet they're using a RealTime BlockList to source their filter. RBLs are maintained anonymously, and probably automatically. IOW, I'd doubt that more than one or two people at AOL, if that many, know how to remove something from their filters.
PerfectTosca said…
I am an AOL user, although I only use it for emails. As of May 1, I am not only no longer receiving emails from blogger for moderated comments on my blog, but my friends on GMAIL are blocked now too if they try to send a link of any kind to me!

I just complained to AOL postmaster and they emailed me to tell me the person who wants to email me should call their member services. They don't even mention how I am supposed to get emails from my blog comment section. How absolutely absurd. How am I supposed to know who is trying to email me? I do know of one Gmail friend who can't get through, but I am not PSYCHIC.

I only use AOL for their mail system, which makes it more absurd. I have to keep it because I have dozens of stored file cabinets.

In the meantime, Google should know AOL is sabatoging your blogger customers as well as your gmail customers.
Jeanne said…
Ditto. I called today as per their instructions and they told me that there was something wrong on Google's end, not theirs.

I asked why they can't just remove the filter that blocked blogspot, and she claimed that blogger changed something fundamental about their service, so they were the problem as they were not compliant with AOL's "best practices" email policies.

I looked at the policies (http://postmaster.info.aol.com/guidelines/bestprac.html) and found nothing that blogspot OR gmail (or my use of gmail--I was emailing my in-laws and no one else) violated the policies.

Stupid fucking aol.
Nitecruzr said…
Jeanne,

I'm tempted to C&C your comment, as I almost spit water on my keyboard. ;-)

Tosca,

Try using GMail for essential communication, and see if you can get your AOL client to forward essential email to GMail.

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