Why do I keep getting emails from MAILER-DAEMON@208.71.xxx.xxx with the subject line "QWK.net Email Bounce Message"?

These are emails that are automatically generated by our email servers to notify you of unsuccessfully transmitted emails.  The contents of these emails are detailed and necessary to help track down why the email failed.  Often you will find a link somewhere in the middle of the bounce back email which will lead you to more detailed information about why it failed.

Typically, if one of our customers is using an email address hosted by us and they receive a bounce back when sending an email, the issue will likely be either your email client configuration settings (i.e. Outlook, Thunderbird, MacMail…), or a blacklisted QWK.net email server (if this is the case call us immediately).

If you begin recieving multiple messages like this it could also mean someone has compromised your e-mail account and is sending spam without your knowledge. In this case, also contact Qwknet immediately. We may temporarily suspend service to your e-mail account, but this is to protect your personal information and our other customers on your shared server. If we are not notified and find it first it may result in the temporary suspension of your entire hosting account. We will help you resolve this problem as quickly as possible.

Now, if someone that is not a customer of ours gets a bounce back email when sending to you, then the issue is on their end (meaning their email client configuration settings or their email servers). Finally, other possibilities for bounce back messages are blacklisted IP addresses (provided by your Internet Service Provider), or you have an SPF record configured incorrectly.  These are much less common, but are common enough to note.

If the issue is your email client or our mail servers, feel free to give us a call and we will be happy to assist you.  If the bounce back was received on the other end, they will need to contact their email service provider or ISP.