Author Topic: Listmail says it's sending messages, but none are sent (Read 2263 times)

p_elam · « **on:** August 06, 2006, 01:47:13 am »

I am trying to email a newsletter. I loaded the newsletter Friday 8/4 and sent test messages, but never received them. I went ahead and sent the newsletter to the subscription list, but no one I contacted received a copy -- including me. I dd, however, receive a failure notice in regard to a UK address.

I just tried sending the newsletter again. I sent a preview to my admin email address, but it did not show up in that emailbox. I sent the newsletter out (gain?) to the whole subscription list, but once more nothing has shown up in either of my email accounts.

Yet when I click on the Sent messages list in ListMail, the list indicates that the newsletter was sent out twice.

What could be the problem? Please advise. Thank you.

Peggy

DW · « **Reply #1 on:** August 07, 2006, 11:15:05 am »

Peggy,

It's possible ListMail is not recognizing an error at your server, resulting in messages seeming to be sent when they are, in fact, not. Do you send "one-off" emails using the "Send Email" feature? If so, please send a mailing with "Write SMTP Log" enabled (on the "Send Email" page) and send your log (or copy and paste the last 100 lines or so) to me via email at dean@listmailpro.com

Regards

p_elam · « **Reply #2 on:** August 07, 2006, 01:02:40 pm »

I don't know what you mean by "one-off" emails (sorry) and didn't see any such command in the ListMail Pro admin panel....but I did send out an email to my Test Mailing List -- which consists of only my bellsouth.net and yahoo.com email addresses -- with "write SMTP logfile" enabled/checked, and that email DID arrive successfully in my bellsouth emailbox....I haven't checked the yahoo one.

However, when I hit "send" for that test emailing, the following error message came up: "WARNING -- Cannot write SMTP debug file (./attach/LM-SMTP-2006-08-07-12-40-26.txt) Is your ./attach folder CHMOD 777? SMTP log disabled." Then, :Connecting to SMTP server.....Connected!" and the email was successfully sent.

I don't know what the error message means, other than that there's apparently a problem, and no SMTP logfile was generated.

There is another development, though....just this afternoon I got a response from tech support at my webhost (ipowerweb.com) about this. (I'm also having some other problems with single emails to @pearlsong.com webmail accounts being bounced back/refused, which makes me think there may be something wrong at the server end. I haven't gotten a tech support response about that yet.)

Here's what ipowerweb.com had to say about the email newsletter problem: "We have checked your issue and please make sure that you are not trying to send mails to more than 5 recipients at a time. We have new restrictions implemented to avoid our servers getting blocked for sending bulk mails. Now you can send emails 100/hour and 5 mails per 10 seconds."

What the....?! Does this mean I will be unable to use ListMail Pro with this website/domain/web host? I'm not spamming -- these are subscription newsletters with opt-out forms in each issue. Is there any way around these restrictions using ListMail Pro?

(Sorry this is so long....but I figured the info is important in assessing the problem.)

Warm Regards,

Peggy Elam

Quote from: "DW"

Peggy,

It's possible ListMail is not recognizing an error at your server, resulting in messages seeming to be sent when they are, in fact, not. Do you send "one-off" emails using the "Send Email" feature? If so, please send a mailing with "Write SMTP Log" enabled (on the "Send Email" page) and send your log (or copy and paste the last 100 lines or so) to me via email at dean@listmailpro.com

Regards

p_elam · « **Reply #3 on:** August 08, 2006, 12:38:30 am »

Here's the latest from tech support at my web host, ipowerwb.com:

<<We cap all outgoing mail for our vDeck servers at 5 emails in 10 seconds, 100 emails in one hour and 1000 emails in one day. Unfortunately at this time we are not able to increase this limit for any of our customers and it is a measure to prevent one customer from causing a resource drain that would effect other users on the same server. >>

Is there any way to use Listmail Pro under these conditions? Obviously I won't be able to increase my mailing list(s) signficantly under this webhost's limitations (which are news to me), but I'd like to be able to continue using email for my relatively small lists until I can figure out a better solution.

Thanks,

Peggy

DW · « **Reply #4 on:** August 08, 2006, 11:28:24 am »

Hi Peggy,

Quote

You had asked me to email you the SMTP log, but as you can see from the text of my reply to you on the ListMail Pro support forum (pasted below), I was unable to generate the SMTP log.

There should be a “Write SMTP Log” option at the bottom of the “Send Email” page where you can enable the log.

Quote

However, when I hit "send" for that test emailing, the following error message came up: "WARNING -- Cannot write SMTP debug file (./attach/LM-SMTP-2006-08-07-12-40-26.txt) Is your ./attach folder CHMOD 777? SMTP log disabled." Then, :Connecting to SMTP server.....Connected!" and the email was successfully sent.

It appears that you found the option and enabled it, but the ListMail “attach” folder was not writable. (The log is stored there temporarily). Help with this can be viewed at the following URL:
http://listmailpro.com/help/attach.html

Quote

I'm concerned now that the problem is with restrictions set by my web host, ipowerweb.com (see text below)...although I don't know how that would affect the SMTP log.

This is certainly possible. I recommend asking if there are any hourly or daily limits on outgoing email. I also recommend, while you’re asking, reassuring them that you are not planning to send spam.

Quote

Here's what ipowerweb.com had to say about the email newsletter problem: "We have checked your issue and please make sure that you are not trying to send mails to more than 5 recipients at a time. We have new restrictions implemented to avoid our servers getting blocked for sending bulk mails. Now you can send emails 100/hour and 5 mails per 10 seconds."

Alright, you have already received the answer to my above suggestion. I highly recommend a host with no hourly or daily limits on email.

Quote

What the....?! Does this mean I will be unable to use ListMail Pro with this website/domain/web host? I'm not spamming -- these are subscription newsletters with opt-out forms in each issue. Is there any way around these restrictions using ListMail Pro?

While you _can_ continue to use this host I don’t recommend it. How large are your lists and how many emails do you send per day? DreamHost will support a few thousand (100% opt-in) emails per day and is very reasonably priced (http://listmailpro.com/dreamhost). I may be able to offer hosting depending on your list size and method(s) of obtaining subscribers (100% opt-in only – no purchased lists)

Please let me know if I can be of further assistance!

p_elam · « **Reply #5 on:** August 08, 2006, 01:02:32 pm »

Quote

While you _can_ continue to use this host I don’t recommend it. How large are your lists and how many emails do you send per day? DreamHost will support a few thousand (100% opt-in) emails per day and is very reasonably priced (http://listmailpro.com/dreamhost). I may be able to offer hosting depending on your list size and method(s) of obtaining subscribers (100% opt-in only – no purchased lists)

My lists right now are pretty small, and all opt-in, no purchased lists...80 subscribers on one and 140 on another. Of course I want to increase these numbers, but that will happen gradually (and all opt-in).

How much would it cost -- and what would it entail -- for you to host just my ListMail program, not my whole website? If that's possible.

I'd rather not switch the whole website to another host right now if I can help it, for financial reasons as well as the time & energy required. If I can find a way to send out email announcements & newsletters using a separately hosted service (or ListMail hosted separatedly, if that's possible), that might be the best interim solution for me.

Thanks,

Peggy Elam

DW · « **Reply #6 on:** August 08, 2006, 07:59:33 pm »

Peggy,

For such a low number of subscribers I can offer you hosting for $10/mo. You could register a new domain or even have your current host enter a subdomain pointing to my server via DNS. With a subdomain, ListMail could be used at, for example, http://listmail.example.com, with example.com being your web site domain. While my hosting is good you have a very reasonably-sized list. I do recommend you check out DreamHost as they have an excellent control panel, allow hosting of unlimited domains and will support several thousand emails per day (or more, since you're fully within their opt-in policy).

Sign up as my referral at DreamHost and I'll perform your installation for free. Installation also comes with my hosting.

Regards

p_elam · « **Reply #7 on:** August 08, 2006, 08:39:43 pm »

I just tried to export the email addresses from the user database for the newsletter I was trying to send. I got the error message below. You (Dean) had mentioned a problem with the attach folder earlier, so I checked the troubleshooting page you referred me to. I used my ftp program to find the attach folder & right-clicked on it, but didn't see anything having to do with CMOD. This may be out of my league to find & fix myself. Is this something you might be able to fix, and if so, how much would it cost?

Thanks,
Peggy

Warning: fopen(./attach/Export.CSV) [function.fopen]: failed to open stream: Permission denied in /home/pearlson/public_html/mail/edituser.php on line 1073
Error opening ./attach/Export.CSV for writing. Is your attach folder CHMOD to 777?

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /home/pearlson/public_html/mail/edituser.php on line 1097

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /home/pearlson/public_html/mail/edituser.php on line 1144

<edit - repeat x 20+>

Done

DW · « **Reply #8 on:** August 09, 2006, 01:17:23 am »

Peggy,

I should be able to step you through this. Which FTP program do you use? You might also right-click on the folder and look for an option labeled "Permissions". CHMOD is a linux term for permissions. The objective is to make the folder have "full" permissions for "all" users. That is "read", "write" and "execute" permissions for all 3 possible owners "owner", "group", "others". Under linux CHMOD this can be represented numerically by "777".

Here's a wikipedia entry on CHMOD for reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chmod

Note that setting such permissions may not be possible on Windows hosts and a workaround would need to be found (I'd be interested to hear if you are able to get one that works!).

Wishing you success in the near future!

p_elam · « **Reply #9 on:** August 09, 2006, 02:12:11 am »

Quote from: "DW"

Which FTP program do you use?

I use FTP Voyager. I just checked/right-clicked the attach folder again looking for anything related to "Permissons," but didn't see anything. There WAS an option/menu choice named "Command," which had ist own menu of options such as Define, Help, System, Fine Files, Change File Attributes and Change Password, but I was reluctant to fool with that any further without knowing what I was doing.:-)

I use Frontpage 2002 to publish my website, and Frontpage extensions are activated on the server, so it might be a Windows server...?

I appreciate all your help.

PegE

BGSWebDesign · « **Reply #10 on:** August 09, 2006, 07:58:41 am »

Hi,

Quote

Change File Attributes

That's what you want

Change to 777.

DW · « **Reply #11 on:** August 09, 2006, 10:08:35 am »

Yes, try Brett's suggestion and click the Command > Change File Attributes option.

I googled and came up with some screenshots and instructions for FTP Voyager! Simply enter 777 as the permissions.

FrontPage-enabled sites can run on both Linux and Windows hosts, so your use of FrontPage is not a sure-indicator of your host-type. If you feel inclined to view server status messages and information you could create a file named "phpinfo.php" containing:

Code: [Select]

<?phpphpinfo();?>

Upload it to a web-accessible folder with FrontPage or FTP Voyager and browse to it.

Please let me know if I can be of further assistance!

Regards