AOL problems

Lots of people are reporting ongoing (RTR:GE) messages from AOL today.  This indicates the AOL mail servers are having problems and can’t accept mail. This has nothing to do with spam, filtering or malicious email. This is simply their servers aren’t functioning as well as they should be and so AOL can’t accept all the mail thrown at them. These types of blocks resolve themselves. 
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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We cannot help endusers troubleshoot AOL connection problems. Please do not call. Please do not write. You need to talk to AOL. We are not AOL. We cannot help you. 

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AOL bounces and false positives

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The other one is a bit more interesting. The error message a lot of people are seeing is 554/421 RLY:SN. Senders should only be getting this error message when they are sending email from a banned address.

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Retrying mail to AOL

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One thing people have been asking me is if they should retry mail to the addresses that are bouncing. I say yes, absolutely. Some of the error messages are related to real filters, but there seems to be quite a bit of slop in the filters these days. I think, though, that the recipients do exist and removing the addresses from future mailings is premature.

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