Push Notifications
 

Seems I'm always behind the curve when viewing or responding to classified adds. Do you have a subscription tool that will allow the site to push out notifications via email for new posts?

Search and you will find a lot of posts on the subject. There are notifications that do go out but they end up in the junk mail folder. They did not used to go to junk but have for many years now.

Going into your junk folder is caused by either the mail user agent or your antivirus/malware program. You can change those settings so they don't go to junk.

I view VAF on two separate computers, an Iphone and two separate Ipads. None of them have the same antivirus software on them. All of them have email notifications from VAF in the junk folder.

As stated, many years ago all VAF email notifications used to go to my inbox. One day they simply stopped. In fact, for years I received no notifications what so ever. Then about a year ago they started showing up again except now they are in my junk folder. Been going there every since. Even when I mark them as "not junk" they still go to the junk folder when they are delivered.

If you are using GMail, another user posted the steps on setting up a filter that would keep VAF mail from going to Junk. Fairly easy to do and likely the only sure way to keep it from happening.

Other mail sites should have a the same functionality.

If you're using gmail, it gives a very specific reason *why* it goes to spam. The reason is that the VAF server doesn't identify itself properly when it sends the notification email. Obviously, a layman's explanation, but you get the idea. The problem is baked into the VAF email. There have been extensive discussions in the past, and Doug has acknowledged that there's an issue, but apparently no action has been taken.

Charlie

I don't know why its not been done for years, but this is super easy to fix (emails going to junk).

The problem is how the emailer is formed. First off, there is no "from" address in the emails that get sent from the forum software (vBulletin).

The solution is very very simple, and something that is akin to Jr. SysAdmin stuff:

1. Configure vBulletin to use a valid "from" address in its emailers
2. Configure DNS records properly: an SPF record and a DMARC for the email address being used at the very least.
3. Setup DKIM on the email serevr

There are a plethora of tools out there the site admin could use to get this done, and it would take somewhere around an hour to complete. I have used https://www.mail-tester.com/ to help me make sure my outgoing emails all look proper and will not get marked by spam filters for not having basic configurations done.

I totally understand Doug may be somewhat busy, but for a site that has as much traffic as VAF, I would think this would be something that he'd want done. Having your email marked as spam is not a good thing for any domain. Once you get on the blacklists its a pain in the rear to get it resolved.

To those who have posted about the local email client filters, white lists, etc. Yes indeed, I am aware of those "work arounds". I have them in place. They do not work for this site. Now as for the other comments about VAF configurations, honestly, even if the necessary knowledge is not possessed by the manager, I cannot see why all the knowledge available through those posting in this forum could not be harnessed. It seems highly feesable for one or two to assist with the implementation of the needed changes and very shortly have it corrected.

But then again, this has been discussed many times before. Still here we are. (wait a minute! That sounds like a Bob Seger song!)

I would be more than happy to volunteer some time to help Doug get SPF/DKIM/DMARC setup and working so that the forum emails don't get marked as spam by default. If he's reading this, feel free to reach out to me anytime! I'm more than happy to help.

images
 

Please implement the vbulletin images feature while you are at it. :) It's a shame to keep losing so much good info that's contained in the posts with images.