Email notification for owned caches not working

[+capoaira]

Hello,

two days ago I noticed that I've got not all e-mail notifications for my owned caches.
It does not affect a specific cache.
The first time I noticed it was when I activated 3 caches but only received one email. Today I got 4 fundlogs on 4 caches, but only one email for one cache.

 

Do others have the problem?

[Keystone]

Who is your email provider, and have you checked your spam folder?  In most cases, problems with receiving emails trace their root cause to the email provider deciding that the volume of notifications must mean that they are spam or that they should not be delivered at all or that they should be throttled (delayed).  Sometimes it is necessary to ask the provider to whitelist emails coming from Geocaching.com.

[+capoaira]

My email provider is web.de. I've check my spam folder, but there are no emails from geocaching.

[Keystone]

Here is a similar topic where web.de was one of the email providers who were throttling or blocking Geocaching.com emails.  The problem seems to surface periodically, perhaps if too many users mark the emails as "spam."

[+ecanderson]

Throttling can also become a problem if the gc.com mail server develops a reputation issue due to a lot of 'bounced' emails to addresses that are no longer valid.  How often does gc.com cull out the email database based upon bounce messages from the receiving servers of their emails?  Inspecting the logs from all of the email transactions will produce a list of undeliverables that could be used for that purpose.  I do recall we had this issue some years back.

 

[+capoaira]

It seems that the problem has been fixed, mails have arrived bit by bit in the past few days. Today came 22 from the last 6 days.

[+heichem]

I don't believe that the problem really has been fixed, because I observe this phenomenon since a few weeks - for all types of mails coming from Groundspeak - watchlist, PQs, instant notifications. Yesterday one of two mails for PQs from saturday - this other is still missing - and today a mail from 1st of may. It's quite annoying. But there are also mails which seem to arrive just in time. No obvious pattern to see.

[+hamariko-nl]

I have the same problem. Logs from my trackables do not get send to my mail address. I checked this address and it receives mail from other sources, but apparently not from geocaching? And I already wondered if my trackables were still alive because I had not heard from them for a while. But they have plenty of logs and miles since the last time I got a notification.

 

I also do not get e-mails about my queries I have made. Used to get one every friday. Must be a system wide problem I guess.

Edited May 8, 2020 by hamariko-nl

[Keystone]

@hamariko-nl - are your trackables getting "Visited" logs or are they being dropped off by one geocacher and retrieved by another geocacher?  Drops and Retrievals should generate notifications.

 

Regarding pocket query notifications, I'm receiving those daily for two different accounts, so it is not a system-wide problem.  Have you checked your spam filter and have you checked with your email provider to determine whether mail from "noreply@geocaching.com" is being blocked on their end?

[+RFCColin]

I have been having this issue for the last 6 weeks or more. I don't seem to get some found it and maintenance logs on my caches and on other notifications for archived, published or a write note. I use gmail so not sure why its happening. There were 51 caches archived near me recently and I received notifications for 45 of them (within the stated mileage). When I archived 2 caches myself, I only had one notification, for the second one, and still waiting for the email on the other. 

Seems to be fairly a common problem at the moment with all the updates going on.

[+capoaira]

Even for me the problem has not yet been solved. I have now switched to gmail. So it works. However, the management of the mail at web.de is much clearer.

[+capoaira]

The problem was solved, but it's back now

[+amy jean]

I have been having this problem off and on since they started publishing new caches in my area. I am in Germany. Several new caches have been published in the past 2 days and I have not gotten any notifications. In May they eventually came but were a couple of days late.

[+wolv_007]

Same here... placed a series of 10 around a small lake.

Sometimes I am receiving the notifications for founds only for two or three of the caches, rest is delivered during nigth hours or on the next day.

that is really annoying.

 

today a new Cache of mine was published so I received the New Cache notification, but everything related to the reviewer task haven't arrived till now (12 hours later).

 

So for me a general mailing issue on the GC.com site.

Edited June 9, 2020 by wolv_007
...

[+Bl4ckH4wkGER]

Thanks for letting us know. I have pinged our engineers.

[+Vlad_Tepes]

I am having the same issues as the ones posted above.
I am also in germany. My Mailprovider ist gmx.
I haven´t got any notification (new caches, watch listings, etc.) for the past 2 days. The weeks before they came, but very late.

[+Luchstatze]

Same happens to me, I am also living in Germany and my mail provider is web.de.

Since June 6th I do not receive any mails from Groundspeak anymore ... :-(

[+Schnurzpiepegal]

Same here, also in Germany and this issue seems to affect several people I know. No publish e-mails and no log notifications. I already switched my primary e-mail address from a web.de account to a gmail.com account, but no change. If somethings arrives, it's about 14 (!) days late.

[+Bl4ckH4wkGER]

A quick update: GMX.de and web.de are currently blocking all 4 of our outbound mail IPs. We are in contact with them but users letting them know personally too, may expedite the process.

Here is their contact form: https://postmaster.gmx.net/de/contact

 

You can reference our mail IPs when you contact them: 63.251.163.224, 63.251.163.225, 63.251.163.228, 63.251.163.229

[+ecanderson]

@Bl4ckH4wkGER

Is this a function of the reputation of Groundspeak's mail server at GMX.de and web.de? 

There have been issues in the past caused by too many emails with addresses that weren't currently valid.

Edited June 10, 2020 by ecanderson

[+Bl4ckH4wkGER]

@ecanderson

 

I will leave the troubleshooting to our engineers. I am just the messenger. All I can say is that it is not the first time in the recent past with these particular providers. 

[+wolv_007]

1 hour ago, Bl4ckH4wkGER said:

A quick update: GMX.de and web.de are currently blocking all 4 of our outbound mail IPs. We are in contact with them but users letting them know personally too, may expedite the process.

Here is their contact form: https://postmaster.gmx.net/de/contact

 

You can reference our mail IPs when you contact them: 63.251.163.224, 63.251.163.225, 63.251.163.228, 63.251.163.229

Thanks for the update.

 

How long Do you store the mails which couldn't be delivered right now?

[+HALMA4]

On 6/10/2020 at 4:18 PM, Schnurzpiepegal said:

Same here, also in Germany and this issue seems to affect several people I know. No publish e-mails and no log notifications. I already switched my primary e-mail address from a web.de account to a gmail.com account, but no change. If somethings arrives, it's about 14 (!) days late.

Hello, 

I have the same problem since 5 days.

Do you have find a solution?

You can answer to halma4@gmx.de.

BR

HALMA4

[+Theba]

Am 09.06.2020 habe ich die letzte E-Mail von geocaching.com erhalten. Ich lebe in Deutschland und meine E-Mail-Adresse habe ich bei gmx.
Ich habe meinen Anbieter gmx kontaktiert und die Antwort erhalten, dass schon andere sich gemeldet haben, die von geocaching.com keine E-Mails mehr erhalten. Das Problem soll wohl bei Groundspeak liegen. Eine Lösung ist noch nicht in Sicht. Ich werde gleich mal eine E-Mail-Adresse eines anderen Anbieters in mein Profil einfügen und dann abwarten, ob ich dann E-Mails vom geocaching.com erhalten werde.

Theba

 

Translate with Google:

I received the last email from geocaching.com on June 9th, 2020. I live in Germany and I have my email address at gmx.
I contacted my provider gmx and received the response that others have already contacted gmx who no longer receive emails from geocaching.com. The problem is probably with Groundspeak. A solution is not yet in sight. I will immediately add an email address from another provider to my profile and then wait and see whether I will receive emails from geocaching.com.

Theba

[Keystone]

I moved a number of posts to this topic from an unrelated thread about AT&T text message notifications.

[+ecanderson]

1 hour ago, Theba said:

Translate with Google:

I received the last email from geocaching.com on June 9th, 2020. I live in Germany and I have my email address at gmx.
I contacted my provider gmx and received the response that others have already contacted gmx who no longer receive emails from geocaching.com. The problem is probably with Groundspeak. A solution is not yet in sight. I will immediately add an email address from another provider to my profile and then wait and see whether I will receive emails from geocaching.com.

Theba

I would recommend contacting gmx again, and ask them specifically about the "server reputation" from the Groundspeak servers at the following addresses 

63.251.163.224,

63.251.163.225,

63.251.163.228,

63.251.163.229.

While the problem may be 'with Groundspeak', it could be that as a result, your ISP is bouncing or throttling messages from one or more of those IP addresses, which would explain why you do not receive them.

 

I do not know for certain whether there is a current problem at Groundspeak that is causing this again, but it has happened in the past, and in my own case, it was determined that Groundspeak was sending many emails to addresses that were no longer valid.  When this happens, it can reduce the 'reputation' of an email server at an ISP to the point that the ISP's sever begins to take action.  That can include 'throttling' mail (sending out only small batches at a time, causing slow or no delivery), or total rejection of some mail.

 

Each ISP sets their own threshold for this, and it could be that gmx has their threshold set low enough that gmx customers are beginning to see the results.  To avoid this, it is important that Groundspeak and every other 'mass mailer' cull out invalid addresses on a regular basis.  Each time an email is sent with an invalid address, the receiving ISP sends a bounce message back to the mailing server indicating that the address is invalid.  By using that mail server log information, it is possible to automate a process to remove defunct addresses from the mailing list and prevent mail server reputation issues that cause action by receiving servers.

 

In fact, I would encourage any of the users of the several German ISP's that are encountering mail issues to make contact and reference the IP addresses above and ask this same question to see if there is any consistent answer.

 

Edited June 12, 2020 by ecanderson

[+Bl4ckH4wkGER]

Update:

We finally heard back from GMX/Web.de and they say that they have added some sort of exception for all four IPs.

Ironically, the same exception allows two IPs to be received again while two (63.251.163.228, 63.251.163.229) are still being blocked.

We have reached back out but don't except a response until early next week. Thank you for your patience.

[+Luchstatze]

Dear Bl4ckH4wkGER, hello geocaching friends,

first many thanks to you and all technical engineers who try to fix this issue! This is so annoying ... I tried to contact Web.de via Postmaster but failed because I don't know a lot of data that has to be filled in the form. And I'm not going to pay 3,99€ and waste further time to call a hotline. If GMX / Web.de want to loose customers ... well, then let's do so! I reactivated my never-used googlemail address and changed it in my geocaching account setting ... jippie, it is working !!!

A friend of mine did so, too ... she received today a publish mail again. And I can confirm that a log from a geocache on my watchlist immediately triggered an email to me. After a complete week being off this is so great!

 

Best regards from Luchstatze ?

[+Theba]

Hallo ecanderson,
vielen Dank für die ausführliche Informationen - sehr interessant! Ich erhielt von GMX folgenden Link: postmaster.gmx.net.
Dort sind die Fälle beschrieben, warum E-Mails nicht gesendet bzw. sogar abgewiesen werden.
@ Bl4ckH4wkGER and @ ecanderson:
Über
mail04.Groundspeak.com ([63.251.163.225])
mail03.Groundspeak.com ([63.251.163.224])
habe ich nun einige E-Mails erhalten, auch ältere!
Da die beiden anderen Adressen von GMX noch nicht freigeschaltet worden sind, kann es sein, das ich immer noch nicht alle zurückliegenden E-Mails erhalten habe.
Ich werde auch persönlich GMX kontaktieren und bitte dringend um Freischaltung der beiden fehlenden IP-Adressen: 63.251.163.228, 63.251.163.229.
In der Hoffnung. dass bald wieder alles klappt
verbleibe ich mit freundlichen Grüßen Theba

 

Translate with Google:

Hello ecanderson,
thank you for the detailed information - very interesting! I received the following link from GMX: postmaster.gmx.net.
It describes the cases why emails are not sent or even rejected.
@ Bl4ckH4wkGER and @ ecanderson:
Over
mail04.Groundspeak.com ([63.251.163.225])
mail03.Groundspeak.com ([63.251.163.224])
I have now received some emails, even older ones!
Since the other two addresses have not yet been activated by GMX, it may be that I still have not received all of the emails from the past.
I will also contact GMX personally and request that the two missing IP addresses be activated: 63.251.163.228, 63.251.163.229.
In the hope. that everything will work again soon
with best regards, Theba

[+ecanderson]

15 hours ago, Theba said:

Dort sind die Fälle beschrieben, warum E-Mails nicht gesendet bzw. sogar abgewiesen werden.
 

It describes the cases why emails are not sent or even rejected.

 

If I understand, they provided a more specific explanation?  Can you quote that email information from them here?

 

[+Theba]

Ich habe mit GMX telefoniert und folgenden Link erhalten:
https://postmaster.gmx.net/
Diesen soll ich Groundspeak nennen, da hier Informationen zum Senden von E-Mails und Fehlermeldungen enthalten sind. Es ist natürlich alles in Deutsch geschrieben. Können sie diese Internet-Adresse den Administratoren von Groundspeak weiterleiten, die für den Versand von E-Mails zuständig sind.

 

Translate with Google:

I called GMX and received the following link:

https://postmaster.gmx.net/

I should call this Groundspeak because it contains information about sending emails and error messages. Everything is of course written in German. Can you forward this Internet address to the administrators of Groundspeak, who are responsible for sending emails

[+capoaira]

@Theba Groundspeak kennt diese Adresse: 

 

[+twistedchickie]

I recently stopped receiving email notifications for my owned caches ,and  new publications and watchlists .. I have checked my spam and they are not there .. how do I fix this problem?