# No "new messages" emails being sent? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [February 11, 2010, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-new-messages-emails-being-sent/528617 "2010-02-11T22:51:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-new-messages-emails-being-sent/528617/41 "2010-02-18T22:33:41Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > **amarone** , a test to you as well. Comcast says they are not blocking the Straight Dope IP#. I have received nothing from SDMB since February 9. I do not normally use the Comcast email web site - I have messages downloaded into Outlook. However, I have been onto the Comcast site and turned off Spam blocking - although there were no messages in the Spam folder. I have just added [webmaster@straightdope.com](mailto:webmaster@straightdope.com) to my address book on the Comcast site, but it is too early to know if that has had any effect. Wait a minute - light bulb comes on, alarm bells go off. Comcast provides a free security suite to subscribers. It used to be McAfee. They just changed to Norton. Being very nervous about Norton from past experience, I looked up reviews which said that this new version/product really will not eat up all your system resources. So I installed it. On February 9… I will look into this more. ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2010, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-new-messages-emails-being-sent/528617/42 "2010-02-19T03:44:42Z")
Yes, I got the message. It was sent to my gmail account. **amarone** , I haven’t downloaded McAfee or Norton (I have a Mac), so I don’t think that’s the issue. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2010, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-new-messages-emails-being-sent/528617/43 "2010-02-19T14:06:02Z")
> [@Tamex](#): > > **amarone** , I haven’t downloaded McAfee or Norton (I have a Mac), so I don’t think that’s the issue. I agree. On reflection, the emails are not even getting to my Camcast account because they do not appear on the server there. Norton could only delete them if they had got to Comcast and Outlook attempted to download them. What’s more, Spam-filtering was turned off in my Norton anyway. So despite what Comcast says about not blocking the SDMB, the emails are not getting to my Comcast account in any way - not even marked as Spam. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2010, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-new-messages-emails-being-sent/528617/44 "2010-02-19T15:47:32Z")
Hmm. Lemme look at this some more. It will probably be Monday before I’m able to get back to this though, sorry. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2010, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-new-messages-emails-being-sent/528617/45 "2010-02-19T17:25:26Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > Seems like we might have another problem here – I’d appreciate y’all looking into it from the Time-Warner place. > > In the meantime.. . if you’d like to try a gmail address I’ll send you an invite. I definitely got the invite…and I have a gmail address. I’ve just been too lazy to update my profile here. I’ll also check McAfee, and make sure nothing is being blocked there. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2010, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-new-messages-emails-being-sent/528617/46 "2010-02-19T22:09:00Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > From time to time an ISP will get a wild hair and decide that “[webmaster@straightdope.com](mailto:webmaster@straightdope.com)” is obviously some sort of spammer. This probably has something to do with the fact that we send out a weekly mailing that has in excess of 35K subscribers. Or maybe not; we’ve just had them put us on the bad boy list out of the blue. > > Your best bet is to check your spam folder regularly. > > We have zero control over any of this. The ISPs will not talk to us when we ask for assistance; it’s up to each of you as their customers to get us off the list. Or off their service. I’ve had earthlink for too long, and I’m looking for a Mac friendly ISP. An internet provider who won’t bill electronically! Sheesh. Auto-pay, my ass. I’m not getting notifications either, which is why I came here. ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2010, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-new-messages-emails-being-sent/528617/47 "2010-02-19T22:39:10Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > Or off their service. I’ve had earthlink for too long, and I’m looking for a Mac friendly ISP. An internet provider who won’t bill electronically! Sheesh. Auto-pay, my ass. 😕😕 I’ve been with Earthlink for over ten years and on Macs forever, and they do auto-pay. Or is that what you don’t want? Also, I’ve never had any problems with them due to being on a Mac. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2010, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-new-messages-emails-being-sent/528617/48 "2010-02-20T02:17:49Z")
> [@curlcoat](#): > > 😕😕 > > I’ve been with Earthlink for over ten years and on Macs forever, and they do auto-pay. Or is that what you don’t want? Also, I’ve never had any problems with them due to being on a Mac. No, autopay is all they want. They won’t bill by email (their own business). They charge me $1 for a paper bill and $1 for no autopay. Look, from their envoice: paper invoice 1.00 $1.00 non-automated payment 1.00 $1.00 Remember, they _will not_ bill electronically. I’ve never had any problems due to having a mac either, but when I move to another ISP I don’t want to get one that does give me problems. I signed with earthlink in the late 90s when I got my original model bondi blue iMac. Steve Jobs told me to. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2010, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-new-messages-emails-being-sent/528617/49 "2010-02-20T02:46:59Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > No, autopay is all they want. They won’t bill by email (their own business). They charge me $1 for a paper bill and $1 for no autopay. > Look, from their envoice: > paper invoice 1.00 $1.00 > non-automated payment 1.00 $1.00 > Remember, they _will not_ bill electronically. I’m sorry, I’m still not getting it - you want to be able to send them a check every month? > [@](#): > > I’ve never had any problems due to having a mac either, but when I move to another ISP I don’t want to get one that does give me problems. > I signed with earthlink in the late 90s when I got my original model bondi blue iMac. Steve Jobs told me to. 😉 Heh, don’t go with AOL! That is the only other one I have experience with (except the web based ones) and they stink! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2010, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-new-messages-emails-being-sent/528617/50 "2010-02-20T17:39:01Z")
> [@curlcoat](#): > > I’m sorry, I’m still not getting it - you want to be able to send them a check every month? > > Heh, don’t go with AOL! That is the only other one I have experience with (except the web based ones) and they stink! 🙂 No, I want them to bill me by email, and I’ll pay electronically every month. Just like most of my bills. They want access to my checking account, and charge me a penalty for not allowing that. The autopay is on their end, not my credit union. earthlink would deduct their fees from my bank account each month. My daughter had a long and stressful experience with what she (and others) called "A O Hell back in the day. It kept re-installing itself. BTOP; I added the dope to my address book, and still didn’t get a notice for this, or another, reply. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2010, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-new-messages-emails-being-sent/528617/51 "2010-02-20T23:09:44Z")
I hate AOL mostly because I signed up to try them out for free, was unimpressed (and found a cheaper local provider), canceled, and then later found out they were still deducting from my account. It was mess to get that straightened out. Still, I’ve never encountered a plain ISP that did not want automatic payment. However, I did find that going through the phone company means they’ll just add it to your bill, which you may have elected not to pay automatically. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-new-messages-emails-being-sent/528617/52 "2010-02-21T00:58:34Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I hate AOL mostly because I signed up to try them out for free, was unimpressed (and found a cheaper local provider), canceled, and then later found out they were still deducting from my account. It was mess to get that straightened out. Which is exactly what they want, and what I _don’t_ want. It’s been years, but my daughter cancelled following their procedure, but when she uninstalled AOL, the next time she turned on her computer, AOL put up a message saying something like “oops! looks like you accidently uninstalled AOL” and re-installed themselves. They did it several times until she threatened civil action. I heard rumors about their CD mailing campaigns, but I don’t know for sure it they were true. I’ll start another thread. I’m curious. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-new-messages-emails-being-sent/528617/53 "2010-02-21T03:12:36Z")
Let me add that I have a comcast account too and am not getting any notifications either. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-new-messages-emails-being-sent/528617/54 "2010-02-21T03:58:51Z")
> [@MLS](#): > > Let me add that I have a comcast account too and am not getting any notifications either. I’d probably go with them, but I don’t want tv. I’m still not getting notified either. Blame it on all those “guests”. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-new-messages-emails-being-sent/528617/55 "2010-02-21T04:02:22Z")
Just got my first notification in over 10 days (for **mangeorge** ’s post. I changed my email to a gmail account and had that forwarded to the Comcast email that is not getting email direct from SDMB. It worked fine. Despite what Comcast may have said, they are blocking SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-new-messages-emails-being-sent/528617/56 "2010-02-21T05:10:26Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > No, I want them to bill me by email, and I’ll pay electronically every month. Just like most of my bills. They want access to my checking account, and charge me a penalty for not allowing that. The autopay is on their end, not my credit union. earthlink would deduct their fees from my bank account each month. I have Earthlink (actually Mindspring as an address, but they merged ages ago) and they bill it to the credit card I gave them. Which I much prefer, because it gives you a chance to catch errors or whatever before money leaves your account. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-new-messages-emails-being-sent/528617/57 "2010-02-21T05:30:54Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > No, I want them to bill me by email, and I’ll pay electronically every month. Just like most of my bills. They want access to my checking account, and charge me a penalty for not allowing that. The autopay is on their end, not my credit union. earthlink would deduct their fees from my bank account each month. > My daughter had a long and stressful experience with what she (and others) called "A O Hell back in the day. It kept re-installing itself. > BTOP; I added the dope to my address book, and still didn’t get a notice for this, or another, reply. Sent you a gmail invite. I suggest you try Xash’s workaround – get a gmail account and have those emails forwarded to you. Sorry it’s not working directly. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-new-messages-emails-being-sent/528617/58 "2010-02-21T15:15:37Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > Sent you a gmail invite. I suggest you try Xash’s workaround – get a gmail account and have those emails forwarded to you. > > Sorry it’s not working directly. ☹ Oh, that was you! I’ll go back and snatch it outta my trash. Thanks. (I thought that maybe it was some dang commie or something) 😉 Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-new-messages-emails-being-sent/528617/59 "2010-02-21T16:03:10Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > I also should mention that at times of stress on the system – lots of people signed in, lots of activity, including searches and etc. – the vB system may drop tasks. Deja vu all over again, eh? ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-new-messages-emails-being-sent/528617/60 "2010-02-21T22:49:19Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > Sent you a gmail invite. I suggest you try Xash’s workaround – get a gmail account and have those emails forwarded to you. > > Sorry it’s not working directly. ☹ Alrighty then! Done and done. I’ve been wanting a 2nd email account anyway. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-new-messages-emails-being-sent/528617.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-new-messages-emails-being-sent/528617.md?page=4)