A user’s email address might suddenly be downgraded to “spammer”: what it might look like and what can be done.
The following is my understanding.
Last fall (around eight months ago) I sent an email from an account I’d used for years. It bounced back. I’ve had that happen before, but rarely, and typically it turned out the problem was at the intended receiver’s end. However, this time seemed different, especially when I sent an email to a colleague and never got a reply. I was intrigued.
I tried sending emails to some of my own, other email addresses. One gave a bounce back. The other received the email, but put it in Junk. Yet, that account had received emails from the sending one before, and had never done so. Something had changed.
I realized that one can find headers on email that explain how the handling facilities perceive the email. In the receiving account, I checked the headers.
Three headers of interest are DMARC, SPF, and DKIM. In broad strokes, DMARC comes up with the decision to label a message as spam or not, based on DKIM, SPF, and possibly other reasons.
SPF is Sender Policy Framework, where a domain may list all servers whence they send emails. If an email comes from a server not listed by that domain’s SPF, it’s classified as spam or worse.
DKIM is DomainKeys Identified Mail, and is cryptographic confirmation that an email came from the domain it says it did.
DMARC is Domain-based Message Authentication and Reporting Conformance. It is the rule set that is used to classify an email, based on DKIM and SPF.
DMARC, SPF, and DKIM may each have “PASS” or “FAIL.” FAIL can mean Spam or not even delivered, depending on local settings.
In my case I checked the email headers and discovered that the SPF didn’t align: my emails were being sent from a new server that wasn’t listed with that domain’s SPF. I alerted my internet host and they cleared it up. As I recall, one of the headers cleared in a few hours, the last one within 48 hours (possibly within just 24 hours).
After that, I sent a few practice emails that yielded good results at the receiving accounts. Next I sent a few emails to colleagues explaining I was testing the account. Things have been fine ever since, it seems.
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