With AOL, you don't know what you're missing!

Are you missing any e-mail?

America Online is taking an aggressive stance towards spam. Unfortunately, their methods could result in your incoming e-mail being blocked.

How are they blocking good e-mail?

When enough e-mail sent through one mail server is reported as spam, AOL responds by blocking all e-mail through that server. It doesn't matter from what server the spam was originally sent, only the last server through which it came.

But that mail server is a spammer, right?

Not necessarily.

The reported spam may not be spam at all.
The mail may have been misidentified, or the AOL user may have clicked "report spam" by accident (especially when reporting a large amount of spam).
The reported spam may have come through a forwarded mailbox
Many people have e-mail addresses at web sites (bob@example.com) that forward all mail to their regular e-mail (bob@aol.com). If the spam to bob@example.com gets through to AOL and Bob reports it as spam there, AOL may respond by shutting off all e-mail from example.com!
The reported spam may have come through an opt-in list
Many people belong to announcement, news, or discussion lists. It only takes a few people to report such lists as spam to block all e-mail from that mail server.

OK, but I don't forward e-mail from a web site. So it doesn't affect me.

It may.

Many smaller web sites share space at a single web host. America Online typically blocks ALL e-mail from that web host. If you were expecting mail from someone who uses that host, you could lose e-mail.

I don't use AOL, so it's not a problem for me.

America Online is not the only ISP using these tactics, but it is the largest. You should be aware of your ISP's policies on spam and how they implement spam blocking.

OK, I think this could be a problem for me. What can I do?

If you depend on e-mail from outside America Online, invest in another form of e-mail.
If you receive e-mail forwarded by a web site, switch to using a POP server on their host (talk to your web administrator about this).
Be very careful about reporting spam. Only report actual spam that came directly to AOL.
If you subscribed to a list and later want it to stop, unsubscribe. Don't report as spam.
Communicate your feelings to AOL.
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