Yesterday several members of our VALIB and VPLDA listservs got whacked off the list because SpamCop said our IP was blacklisted. These dynamic services sometimes "see" listservs as being spammers ie we send out multiple messages to multiple people. When I went to the SpamCop website yesterday to see if we were blacklisted it said we were not, but we had been when all the users got whacked. I have NO control over this happening from my end - it's basically two machines duking it out. The solution is below - basically whoever is the adminstrator of the SpamCop settings or configuration has to put us on a "whitelist" (kinda like Santa's good list, because we really haven't been bad). The IP to put on the whitelist is 192.131.239.33, listvpl.lib.va.us, and listlva.lib.va.us. Below is an explanation for our L-Soft support: SpamCop SpamCop blocks are dynamic, so your mail server and LISTSERV domains may well not be presently blocked. They may have been an hour ago, or may be blocked in the next hour. Note that use of SpamCop is a voluntary decision on the part of an organization or ISP. While use of SpamCop may be a matter of internal institutional policy for some organizations or ISPs, it is not an external requirement of any kind (legal or otherwise). SpamCop provides a good explanation of how it operates on its web site http://www.spamcop.net <http://www.spamcop.net/> , specifically on the page located at http://www.spamcop.net/fom-serve/cache/297.html where it offers several disclaimers regarding its service. * Working to Resolve This - Subscribers Note that the affected subscribers' ISPs are choosing to use SpamCop are a tool to block mail. The practical, near-term solution to the situation is for an organization or ISP to use SpamCop as it intends and recommends: with a trustlist / whitelist. The affected subscribers will probably want to contact their ISP and request that the domain and IP addresses for LISTSERV and its outbound mailer be whitelisted/trustlisted. P.S. I hate spammers. P.S.S. Thanks to Bill Hatch of Blackwater Regional Library for bringing this to my attention. Rose M. Schooff Technology Consultant Library Development and Networking The Library of Virginia (804) 692-3772 ______________________________________ To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html