As I celebrate this milestone of five million views, I thought it would be fun to throw in a bonus post showing what posts garnered the most traffic, ever, on Spam Resource. Check out the list below, and let me know if you're surprised by any of these picks.
This post is from 2020 and since then it has garnered more than 23,500 views.
This post explains what Apple's Private Relay email addresses are, why messages to them might suddenly bounce, and what senders can do (or can't do) about it. It sheds light on Apple's privacy relay system and why it frustrates some legitimate senders.
Why is/was it popular? Lots of companies signed up for "Sign in with Apple" functionality, captured a bunch of masked email addresses, and didn't realize that it took special settings to be able to send to those addresses. The result? A lot of confused senders who were surprised to find that their initial attempts to send to those addresses were rejected due to misconfiguration.
This post is from 2023 and has gotten more than 29,000 views.
It answers a surprisingly common question: does Comcast use comcast.net or comcast.com for subscribers' email addresses? Yep, people get confused by this constantly. (Spoiler: People who work at Comcast are .com, people who have an email account associated with their Xfinity cable internet service are .net.)
This goes to show that it's not always the deepest or most detailed information that captures the most eyeballs.
This post is from 2020 and has been viewed more than 40,100 times.
Here I break down why sending email to Gmail over IPv6 often causes headaches for smaller senders. The post outlines the deliverability pitfalls and gives straightforward advice on sticking to IPv4 unless you really know what you're doing.
This post really made a number of people mad. My point was misinterpreted to imply that I meant that "email over IPv6 sucks." It doesn't suck; but it is is not for the faint of heart. Email authentication has long been effectively mandated out of the gate for email senders utilizing IPv6, and filters are much stricter. The hobbyist's creed of "just do it wrong until you figure it out" doesn't work well here, and mailbox providers definitely do not live the "be generous in what you accept" golden rule when it comes to accepting it via IPv6, either.
In short, people trip over their own two feet here constantly.
This post from way back in 2007 has gotten more than 52,300 views and reliably continues to get at least a couple views daily.
This was my explainer on the topic of backscatter: those annoying bounce messages you get when spammers forge your email in the from address. I cover how it happens, why it's bad for your domain's reputation, and practical steps to reduce it.
Why is/was it popular? Because spammer are jerks, and often exploited email's historical lack of authentication restrictions to sidestep blocking and pummel unrelated parties with rejections related to their unwanted spam sends to dirty lists. Even with DKIM and DMARC today, it still happens. (And it's a very good reason to implement DMARC.)
Also from 2007, this post has received more than 52,700 views.
A classic advice post for frustrated users discovering that spammers are forging their email address. I explain why this happens, what damage it can cause, and how modern email authentication (like DMARC) helps keep it under control.
This post had a surge of popularity in 2011, and a smaller burst of traffic in 2014. But while it no longer peaks, like the second most popular post, it still gets a steady stream of clicks every day from people who are frustrated by finding their email address being forged in the from address of spam and phishing messages.
As I celebrate this milestone of five million views, I thought it would be fun to throw in a bonus post showing what posts garnered the most traffic, ever, on Spam Resource. Check out the list below, and let me know if you're surprised by any of these picks.
Number 5: Help! All mail to privaterelay.appleid.com users is bouncing!
This post is from 2020 and since then it has garnered more than 23,500 views.
This post explains what Apple's Private Relay email addresses are, why messages to them might suddenly bounce, and what senders can do (or can't do) about it. It sheds light on Apple's privacy relay system and why it frustrates some legitimate senders.
Why is/was it popular? Lots of companies signed up for "Sign in with Apple" functionality, captured a bunch of masked email addresses, and didn't realize that it took special settings to be able to send to those addresses. The result? A lot of confused senders who were surprised to find that their initial attempts to send to those addresses were rejected due to misconfiguration.
Number 4: Comcast email addresses: .com or .net?
This post is from 2023 and has gotten more than 29,000 views.
It answers a surprisingly common question: does Comcast use comcast.net or comcast.com for subscribers' email addresses? Yep, people get confused by this constantly. (Spoiler: People who work at Comcast are .com, people who have an email account associated with their Xfinity cable internet service are .net.)
This goes to show that it's not always the deepest or most detailed information that captures the most eyeballs.
Number 3: Honestly? Don't send to Gmail over IPv6
This post is from 2020 and has been viewed more than 40,100 times.
Here I break down why sending email to Gmail over IPv6 often causes headaches for smaller senders. The post outlines the deliverability pitfalls and gives straightforward advice on sticking to IPv4 unless you really know what you're doing.
This post really made a number of people mad. My point was misinterpreted to imply that I meant that "email over IPv6 sucks." It doesn't suck; but it is is not for the faint of heart. Email authentication has long been effectively mandated out of the gate for email senders utilizing IPv6, and filters are much stricter. The hobbyist's creed of "just do it wrong until you figure it out" doesn't work well here, and mailbox providers definitely do not live the "be generous in what you accept" golden rule when it comes to accepting it via IPv6, either.
In short, people trip over their own two feet here constantly.
Number 2: Backscatter: What is it? How do I stop it?
This post from way back in 2007 has gotten more than 52,300 views and reliably continues to get at least a couple views daily.
This was my explainer on the topic of backscatter: those annoying bounce messages you get when spammers forge your email in the from address. I cover how it happens, why it's bad for your domain's reputation, and practical steps to reduce it.
Why is/was it popular? Because spammer are jerks, and often exploited email's historical lack of authentication restrictions to sidestep blocking and pummel unrelated parties with rejections related to their unwanted spam sends to dirty lists. Even with DKIM and DMARC today, it still happens. (And it's a very good reason to implement DMARC.)
Number 1: Ask Al: My email address is being used in spam!
Also from 2007, this post has received more than 52,700 views.
A classic advice post for frustrated users discovering that spammers are forging their email address. I explain why this happens, what damage it can cause, and how modern email authentication (like DMARC) helps keep it under control.
This post had a surge of popularity in 2011, and a smaller burst of traffic in 2014. But while it no longer peaks, like the second most popular post, it still gets a steady stream of clicks every day from people who are frustrated by finding their email address being forged in the from address of spam and phishing messages.
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