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Sender ID Issue
Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2005 2:20 pm
by pilau
I was wondering how does forums' mail senders get their Sender ID. I didn't find anything useful on Google nor on MSDN or PHP.net, could you please explain the way it works and how can I give my mail() function a Sender ID?
(Sender ID is used by spam-blockers to indentify that the e-mail isn't spam).
Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2005 3:11 pm
by onion2k
I think the Sender ID is added by the SMTP server.. It is on my hosting company's servers anyway.
Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2005 6:05 pm
by bokehman
I've been running a mail server for a while now but have never heard of this. Span is usually weeded out because spamers send false information. If your mails are not getting through the chance are your mail server has not been configured properly or your mail is incorrectly written.
Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2005 7:19 pm
by Roja
bokehman wrote:I've been running a mail server for a while now but have never heard of this. Span is usually weeded out because spamers send false information. If your mails are not getting through the chance are your mail server has not been configured properly or your mail is incorrectly written.
Thats because its fairly new.
Its a proprietary mail server configuration change that Microsoft is attempting to spread. It's patented, which is why the majority of mailserver software does not implement it.
The only place you are likely to see emails blocked for NOT having sender-id, as a result, is on hotmail. If your emails are being blocked on hotmail, due to not having this proprietary, patented mail server configuration, explain to the end-user that Microsoft has
incorrectly handled their email.
http://www.maawg.org/about/whitepapers/spf_sendID/
Word has it that if a customer on hotmail complains, they can get added into a group which does not filter email based on sender-id, but I've seen nothing official clarifying that.
Also, Hotmail doesn't block an email *solely* because it doesn't have sender-id, its one value of many they consider - so other factors caused the email to be blocked as well.
In summary, I'll quote Richard M Stallman:
RMS wrote:This license is an example of Microsoft's
strategy for killing off free software as an alternative to Windows.
Microsoft first patents something, then incorporates it into a format
or protocol, then tries to make it de rigueur while excluding those it
wishes to exclude. In the absence of resistance, Microsoft has a good
chance of imposing whatever standards it likes. Let us, therefore,
resist it here and now.
Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 2:59 am
by pilau
Well that's exactly my problem. The E-mail is being sent to the junk folder on Hotmail, and since a LOT of my buddies have their accounts on Hotmail, I'd like to know how to solve that problem. Do I need to pat extra money for a Sender ID?
Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 3:15 am
by bokehman
Send me a copy of that mail straight from your script and I will see what is wrong with it.
ssl@bokehman.com Also post the time you send it on here so I can check just in case my mail server rejects it. If that is the case I can look at the log to find out why.
Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 4:41 am
by timvw
- Buddies don't use (BigBrother) Hotmail.
- You might want to spend your money on a real mail-acccount instead of sponsoring some monopolist.
Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 5:22 am
by pilau
timvw wrote:- Buddies don't use (BigBrother) Hotmail.
When reffering to my "buddies", I was talking of my friends
Still, I didn't solve my problem. How can I create a Sender ID for my Mail() function?
Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 6:24 pm
by bokehman
I didn't mean send me the scripts. I wanted you to send me a test mail. The scripts by themselves wont show problems with your mail server.
Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 7:56 pm
by timvw
pilau wrote:
When reffering to my "buddies", I was talking of my friends
I know. Real friends don't use hotmail
http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/safety/ ... pport.mspx
But as i said already, invest some money in a real mail-account and choose SPF

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 4:25 am
by pilau
Still, I didn't get an answer to my question: How do message boards get their Sender IDs?
Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 4:29 am
by bokehman
This is not the problem. I don't have a send ID (never will) and can send email to hotmail without it going in the junk box.
Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 5:55 am
by Roja
pilau wrote:Still, I didn't get an answer to my question: How do message boards get their Sender IDs?
three answers:
1. You don't need it. Something else (in *addition* to the sender-id flag) is causing your email to get junked. If you can get a copy of the headers of an email that has been junked, we can help you figure out what caused it, and possibly how to avoid it.
2. The enduser should complain to Microsoft - this could get them added to a group on hotmail which will not improperly junk their email based on the sender-id flag. Alternatively, they can switch to another mail provider.
3. You ignore all of the above advice, and follow the link that timvw gave, which is Microsoft's site on how to implement Sender-id. You then give that information to your hosting provider and ask them to add a sender-id flag to your dns record. Keep in mind that this will break your mail domain in odd ways on some hosts, require your host to make changes, require you to only send emails from designated IP's, and require maintenance over time (update it whenever you change sending IP).
Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 6:38 am
by pilau
I prefare answer #1

Here's the header:
Code: Select all
<?php
$mailtoname = $_POST['fname'];
$mailtoaddress = $_POST['email2'];
$mailtocomplete = "$mailtoname <$mailtoaddress>";
$mailfromname = $_POST['yname'];
$mailfromaddress = $_POST['email1'];
$mailfromcomplete = "From: $mailfromname <$mailfromaddress>";
mail($mailtocomplete, $_POST['subject'], $_POST['message'], $mailfromcomplete);
?>
Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 6:43 am
by Roja
pilau wrote:I prefare answer #1

Here's the header:
No. Thats the header you are sending.
We need the headers of an email that has been received at hotmail, from the junk folder.
When hotmail parses an email, it adds headers which explain which criteria caused it to be blocked. THAT is what we need to look at.