My site just got shut down by hosting company!

For sending a bulk email to subscribers of my newsletter mailing list

[PFOnline]

I have a large opt-in newsletter mailing list with over 1800 subscribers, and they have the option to opt out if they want, so its not spam.

And i just sent it out, and then a few minutes later my site account is suspended and site is not responding.

My site is still down as I type this, (they're working to get it running again) and I'm kinda freakin out, cause it's bad timing... Right when I send the newsletter, usually the site gets alot of visitors... But I now probably have alot of confused visitors cause the site isn't loading.

I think the hosting company said it automatically suspends accounts and shuts down the site when over like 500 emails are sent from your domain.

Is this normal for a hosting company to do? Should I consider switiching hosts? How can I still send out the emails in the future without getting my site shut down again?

They said they know my intentions are innocent and it's not spam, and to possibly only send out less than 500 emails at a time, with my newsletter mailing list script, so it doesn't happen again.

But should I really have to do this?

I asked if they could allow only my account to send more emails and they said no.

[jatar_k]

It is a little nuts but I am impressed with the fact that they are going to fix it. Have you not sent out that many before?

They seem fairly accomodating. They told you the parameters and are trying to help it seems. Though it would have been nicer if they had mentioned this earlier. I would stick with them and adjust your script.

Our ISP does the same thing around 500 so we batch them and send them out in chunks. So it it may be common. We are putting in 2 relay servers to fix it. I don't think it is unreasonable but a few warnings would be better than the auto shut down.

[PFOnline]

Ya, it's kind of weird... The last time I sent out the newsletter it had only about 30 less subscribers, or so...

(Last time I sent it was about 1790... today when I sent it had 1825)

So it could possibly be a new rule they implemented.

The way around it, they told me is...

The emails subscribed to the newsletter mailing list are put into one file called address.txt - and that when I send it out from now on, I should break up the file into maybe 3 address.txt files.

So I guess I could do this... But I dunno... Just feels kinda like a nuisance and extra work, that kinda feels unneccessary...

Or should I just comply and stop being lazy... ;) hehe

[jatar_k]

since they seem to be pretty good (most hosts wouldn't even talk to you, just ban you) I would just do it. I doubt any host that allows you to send 2000 emails will be one you want.

[PFOnline]

Allright jatar_k, thanks. I feel better now... :)

[jatar_k]

glad to hear it, they actually sound like a really good host

[moltar]

You could oursource your mailing list to a third party. Or you could also download the list and send out from your computer with a software for mailing lists (there are many different ones).

[monsterhosting]

You run the risk of many hosts doing the same thing. Most hosts and upstream providers have a 0 tollerance to spam even if it is an opt-in list.

What you should be looking for is bullet-proof hosting.

Please do not contact us as we do not provide it but a search on google for bullet-proof hosting should help you find some hosts.

[Visit Thailand]

You need to find a solution to this problem because obviously the number of emails you are sending out is growing.

When I was on a shared server I believe the number of emails allowed per day was 2 or 3,000 (or something close).

They alerted me when I was breaking the rules but did not shut me down - I would have gone ape.

Shutting you down like that I think is very wrong, they should have alerted you, explained the situation and given you X number of days to come up with a solution and allow you to explain yourself.

When it happened to me (and mine was not spam but a subscription base) they understood and allowed me to continue.

At the time they offered two solutions a dedicated server or pay extra for unlimited emails.

I never did either but have now moved to a dedicated because of traffic demands.

I would personally think about moving hosts as any host that shuts your site down like that without notice would give me heart failure.

[henry0]

An idea, forget about the newsletter as is

post it on your site (requiring auth)

have a small icon or banner stating the "new news" is up

and allow only registered member to get in

Henry

[somerset]

PFOnline, my host has no problems with this, we can send out any number of emails, endless thousands, as long as they are not spam, and as long as they are text and not full-blown graphic html emails. I get one-to-one personal service.