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A
Anonymous
February 23, 2007
Answered

CFMAIL

  • February 23, 2007
  • 8 replies
  • 1110 views
I am not able to receive email from users whose email addresses end in citlink.net and frontiernet.net (someone@citlink.net and someone@frontiernet.net). These are the only ones I know for sure. I have an email account @citlink.net, and I have friends who have @frontiernet.net, so I now these are legitimate email addresses. I can receive emails from other users with other domain names. Why not these? And are there other users who can’t use my form? How do I correct this?

Thanks,
Jeff
    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer
    It’s so simple it makes me feel kinda dumb that it took me so long to figure out!

    I don’t remember where I learned about the CFMAIL tag but I think they left out some important details...

    USE REPLYTO!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Please somebody; correct me if I’m wrong: Unless you have your own server (i.e. not being hosted) you can’t know if every user makes it to your inbox.

    I suggest that NOBODY should be using FROM=”#Form.Email#” (FROM=User’s email collected from the form). Intead, use FROM=”your email address” (the same as TO). Use REPLYTO to collect the user’s email (REPLYTO="#Form.Email#").

    If you are using CFMAIL to simply have it send the form user information to your email address and you want to make sure that all users can get through (some can’t because the domain name of their ISP may be on your mail server’s blacklist) and you want to be able to reply to the user. Then something like the code posted below is the solution.

    Now, I’m a newbie so there’s a great chance that I am wrong. If I am, please explain.

    Thanks,
    Jeff

    8 replies

    N
    Newsgroup_User
    Inspiring
    February 24, 2007
    Yes, you got it!

    You are correct. With all the spam going around, lots of hosting
    companies now require proper authentication before you can send emails
    through forms on your pages/using cfmail.

    To ensure you always get your form submissions use the following cfmail
    construct:

    <cfmail server="YOURmailserver"
    username="somaaccount@yourmailserver.com" password="password for
    someaccount@yourmailserver.com" from="somaccount@yourmailserver.com"
    to="whoever@whereever.com" replyto="submitteremail@inyourform OR BETTER
    Firstname Lastname <submitteremail@inyourform>" subject"whaterver you want">

    this will make sure most email get sent/received. there still may be
    problems with sending to certain email addresses (i.e.hotmail, yahoo,
    aol i think too and others) but that has to do with other things...

    --
    Azadi Saryev
    Sabai-dee.com
    Vientiane, Laos
    http://www.sabai-dee.com
    A
    Anonymous
    Correct answer
    February 23, 2007
    It’s so simple it makes me feel kinda dumb that it took me so long to figure out!

    I don’t remember where I learned about the CFMAIL tag but I think they left out some important details...

    USE REPLYTO!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Please somebody; correct me if I’m wrong: Unless you have your own server (i.e. not being hosted) you can’t know if every user makes it to your inbox.

    I suggest that NOBODY should be using FROM=”#Form.Email#” (FROM=User’s email collected from the form). Intead, use FROM=”your email address” (the same as TO). Use REPLYTO to collect the user’s email (REPLYTO="#Form.Email#").

    If you are using CFMAIL to simply have it send the form user information to your email address and you want to make sure that all users can get through (some can’t because the domain name of their ISP may be on your mail server’s blacklist) and you want to be able to reply to the user. Then something like the code posted below is the solution.

    Now, I’m a newbie so there’s a great chance that I am wrong. If I am, please explain.

    Thanks,
    Jeff
    D
    Dinghus
    Inspiring
    February 23, 2007
    Are ALL emails from those 2 domains failing? If so then YOUR email host is blocking those domains. So try changing the FROM to an email that is hosted on your domain. Maybe even the me@mydomainname.com
    A
    Anonymous
    February 23, 2007
    Hello Dinghus,

    Yes ALL emails from those two emails are failing.

    It looks like I will have to do what everyone is suggesting---change the FROM to a static address so it won't be from the user.

    I can still collect the user's email address anyway---it will just show up in my inbox as being from probably myself. Then when I reply I will have to remember to change the TO address to the user's address. Annoying!

    To me, this means everybody using CFMAIL (or other similar types) who wants to insure that they are actually getting all requests from their form would have to do the same. How can anybody know who's all on the blacklist?

    Thanks,
    Jeff
    B
    brianism
    Inspiring
    February 23, 2007
    In valid I mean that the from email address might have to be an account that is hosted and set up on the server you are sending your mail from.

    Is citlink.net and frontiernet.net hosted on the same server you are sending your cfmail from?
    A
    Anonymous
    February 23, 2007
    Hello brianism,

    Ok, I think understand what you are saying. I do have an email account hosted at citlink.net but I do not have one hosted at frontiernet.net, and our company has a domain name hosted at qwest.com. The TO goes to me at my email address @our companies domain name.com which is hosted with qwest.com. But if I switch the FROM to be a static email address like say “myaccount@citlink.net” rather than the form user (FROM="#Form.Email#"), wouldn’t I then be receiving everything FROM: ME at “myaccount@citlink.net” TO: ME at myaccount@mydomainname.com? Why wouldn’t I want it to be from the user who is actually sending their comments?
    A
    Anonymous
    February 23, 2007
    Hello brainism,

    Maybe I don't understand your suggestion but I have already mentioned valid FROM addresses that I am having the problems with @citlink.net and @frontiernet.net. I purposely posted (someone@citlink.net, and someone@frontiernet.net) rather than posting their actual addresses for privacy reasons, but I can assure you that they are "valid" addresses (one of them is my own and the other is my brothers).

    Thanks,
    Jeff
    B
    brianism
    Inspiring
    February 23, 2007
    Try using a valid email account that is on the server you are sending from for the FROM address. Some servers require that mail be sent from a valid account to prevent spam. You could also use a mask such as: from="Your Message<valid@email.com"
    A
    Anonymous
    February 23, 2007
    [Those domains might have blacklisted your domain, thus preventing any email originating from your domain from reaching their users.]

    Our form sends me the email, not the user.
    (TO="me@mydomainname.com) is my email address at work and (someone@citlink.net) is my email address at home, and (someone@frontiernet.net) are my friends. My emails don't get blocked going to those address when I send them from my work (me@mydomainname.com).

    [You might try adding the server attribute to your CFMAIL tag and ensuring that the server name matches the FROM address in your email.]

    I'm a newbie so I have no idea what you are suggesting above.
    A
    Anonymous
    February 23, 2007
    Oops!

    Sorry tclaremont,

    This is kind of embarrassing, but I attached the wrong code in the first place!

    I understand what you meant: [You might try adding the server attribute to your CFMAIL tag and ensuring that the server name matches the FROM address in your email.]

    Here is what I should have attached (including the server attribute):

    Thanks
    Jeff
    tclaremont
    tclaremont
    Inspiring
    February 23, 2007
    Those domains might have blacklisted your domain, thus preventing any email originating from your domain from reaching their users.

    You might try adding the server attribute to your CFMAIL tag and ensuring that the server name matches the FROM address in your email.

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