Mail problems at AOL

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Over the last few months there have been ongoing mail problems at AOL. These problems are all over the map and are resulting in a lot of delayed and unsent email. People are reporting a number of different error messages from AOL mail servers. These messages don’t seem to always be accurate or correct.
A couple examples:
SMTP error from remote mail server after end of data: host mailin-02.mx.aol.com [64.12.90.65]: 521 5.2.1 :(CON:B1) http://postmaster.info.aol.com/errors/554conb1.html reported by the owner of a low volume discussion list with paying subscribers that should have zero complaints.
delivery temporarily suspended: host mailin-01.mx.aol.com[205.188.146.193] refused to talk to me: 421 mtain-dg03.r1000.mx.aol.com Service unavailable – try again later reported by all sorts of senders.
205.188.190.2 failed after I sent the message. Remote host said: 521 5.2.1 “TempFail” reported by a small mail host.
554 mtain-dc03.r1000.mx.aol.com ESMTP not accepting connections reported by an ESP.
421 4.7.0 mtain-dg05.r1000.mx.aol.com Error: too many errors reported by a university, a mailserver vendor and a bunch of ISP and telcos.
This is not a constant or consistent set of errors. It is coming and going, with AOL reporting things are fixed and senders reporting queues emptying. However, every time it seems to be fixed, something else breaks.
There isn’t much anyone outside of AOL can do, though. This has to be fixed internally by their engineers. I’m afraid this is just the result of a highly complex system that is failing due to bit rot, though. Which means only significant investment in time and programming power can fix this for all of us. I do hope I’m wrong.
It’s weird to be writing this blog post the same day I found out that Jay Levitt, one of the original AOL mail system architects has died. I didn’t know Jay well, although he did post a comment here once or twice. I haven’t heard any details, yet, but it’s strange to be writing about AOL mail today.
Update Feb 8, 2016: AOL users are having problems logging in. Word to the Wise cannot help you. Please do not contact us for help. Contact AOL directly.

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Broken record…

The Return Path In the Know blog listed 4 reasons mailing those old addresses is a bad idea.
Ashley, the author, is completely right and I endorse everything she said. (Although I’d really like to hear what happened to the customer that added back all those addresses. What was the effect on that campaign and future email marketing?) As I was reading the article though, I realized how many times this has been said and how depressing it is that we have to say it again. And again. And again.
A number of folks have told me that the reason they don’t pay any attention to delivery professionals is because we don’t provide enough real data. They can show that sending mail to old addresses costs them nothing, and makes them real money.
That’s not really true, though. We do provide data, they just don’t like it so they don’t listen to it. Return Path publishes lots of numbers showing that mailing unengaged recipients lowers overall delivery. I can provide case studies and data but companies that are committed to sending as much mail as possible throw up many reasons why our data isn’t good or valid.
The biggest argument is that they want hard numbers. I do understand this. Numbers are great. Direct and clear answers are wonderful. But delivery is a squishy science. There are a lot of inputs and a lot of modifiers and sometimes we can’t get exactly one answer. The data is noisy, and difficult to replicate. One of the reasons is that filtering is a moving target. Filters are not, and cannot be, fixed. They are adaptive and are changing even between one hour and the next.
Delivery experts are about risk management. They are the parents requiring everyone in the car wear seat belts, even though the driver has never had an accident. They are the fire department enforcing fire codes, even though it’s the rainy season.
Risk management isn’t about the idea that bad things will absolutely happen but rather that it is more likely that a bad thing will happen in some cases.
In this case, it’s more likely that delivery problems will happen when mailing old addresses. And if those addresses aren’t actively contributing to revenue, it’s hard to argue that their presence on a list is more beneficial than their absence.
But I repeat myself. Again.

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AOL improving

I’m hearing from lots of folks that they’re seeing some improvement in delivery to AOL accounts.
As everyone can imagine, the AOL situation has been a common thread of discussion on many delivery lists. One person even commented at how fragile the AOL mail server seems. My own thoughts are a little different. The AOL mail system is notoriously complex and integrated. Many of the folks who built it have been laid off or otherwise moved on to other companies. I know there are still smart, competent people riding herd on the AOL mail servers, but I expect they don’t have the resources to do the ongoing maintenance and the fire fighting and all the other tasks that a mailserver handling billions of emails needs.
What this means is that the AOL mail system has been suffering from bit rot for at least 2 years. It is to the original designers’ credit that it’s taken this long before there were major problems like we’ve seen over the last week.

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AOL … again

A number of senders are reporting that they’re getting unusual responses from AOL servers. The responses include:

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