TOPIC:

When e-mailing our weekly meeting notice to our members in 5104 three of them bounced out of 30+ sent to our members list. First time this has happened. Double checked TM International and local toast host list and they agree. I sent note out to same list 10 days ago and everything worked fine with no bounces.

Which 3 bounced (names) and what was the exact message you got that tells you they bounced?

---

Forwarded message

---

From: <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Sun, Apr 6, 2014 at 6:45 PM
Subject: Message Not Delivered: Toastmasters April 10 lineup - PLEASE RESPOND
To: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.


Your message to (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. in This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) had the following error and was not delivered:
Couldn't connect to toastmastersclubs.org:25

---

Forwarded message

---

From: <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Sun, Apr 6, 2014 at 6:45 PM
Subject: Message Not Delivered: Toastmasters April 10 lineup - PLEASE RESPOND
To: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.


Your message to (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. in This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) had the following error and was not delivered


Couldn't connect to toastmastersclubs.org:25

---

Forwarded message

---

From: <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Sun, Apr 6, 2014 at 6:45 PM
Subject: Message Not Delivered: Toastmasters April 10 lineup - PLEASE RESPOND
To: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.


Your message to (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. in This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) had the following error and was not delivered:

Couldn't connect to toastmastersclubs.org:25

VPed5104 wrote:

When e-mailing our weekly meeting notice to our members in 5104 three of them bounced out of 30+ sent to our members list. First time this has happened. Double checked TM International and local toast host list and they agree. I sent note out to same list 10 days ago and everything worked fine with no bounces.

There was a transmission error for those three, per the log. When I did the recent revisions of tcmail (mail handler), I added more rigorous error handling to it, including notifications of transmission errors. tcmail did not send notifications (bounces) of transmission errors in the past.

What I may do is to add a "retry loop"... again, this is something that has never been a part of tcmail in the past.

What you can do is just to resend those three.

Thanks for the response. The TMOD resent to the three individuals via separate e-mail. I wanted to make you aware as this will not be sustainable "as is". Extra work/rework is not a desirable piece for time constrained folks. As I mentioned in a previous note I did not see the delivery issue about 10 days ago when I sent a note to the group but our President encountered it on his note sent this week. Will monitor to see if it continues to be an issue. It is a tremendous help to know who is not receiving messages, we just need to know why.

Regards,

Ed Skarbek
VP Education
St Matthews/Lyndon Toastmasters Club #5104

I have implemented a retry loop. It is currently set for 25 retries on a transmission error before it quits and sends a bounce message.

Let's be clear, though. This is not some new problem that I have caused to happen. During my revisions of the email handling code, I identified a flaw where there was never a check implemented to determine whether the actual individual email sends were really successful. Therefore, some of the past SUCCESS's logged in the email log were probably erroneous since no check for transmission errors was done in the past. So, just because you are now aware of these issues does not mean that they did not exist before.

Of the ~285,000 emails processed last week, there were 574 transmission errors (~0.2%)

While I am sure that the people who had the transmission errors issues did not appreciate the problem, at least they are now aware of it, and the retry loop I just added will hopefully drive the fractional percentage even lower.

Until I implemented the check for transmission errors, none of us knew there was a possible issue with that either.

Email is *not* foolproof... errors do occur occasionally during transmission. That is why I decided to implement the retry loop.

Steve,

Thanks for the help and providing the explanation and I was not looking to "blame" anyone. Just wanted to make you aware of the issue and when it occurred. Thanks for implementing the retry loop. I realize some servers may not be as receptive to messages depending on their security setting. This brought up the potential to make certain people "whitelist" e-mail from our distribution list. I agree it is much better to know who is not receiving the messages rather than being lulled into a false sense of security that "everything went out". Terrific effort and response. While you may not hear this often it is indeed greatly appreciated. THANK YOU.......

Ed Skarbek
VP Education
St Matthews/Lyndon Toastmasters Club 5104