mia_mcdavid has already written about this issue. Especially for colgaffneyis members (though others may also find this interesting), I am including more details here.

A few weeks ago I discovered that Comcast was blocking inbound e-mail from clanntartan.org. I complained, and after getting past some apparently obtuse bureaucratic hassle, was able to get the block lifted.

A few days ago I discovered the block was back. So I again asked them to lift it. I got a msg back from Comcast yesterday saying that they had unblocked clanntartan.org (actually the IP address to which it resolves). For a while some e-mail was getting through, but this morning we discovered clanntartan.org was being blocked again. So I repeated the process (third time now) this morning and about 1/2 hour ago got a msg that the block had been lifted. Unfortunately, as a result of some investigation this morning I am doubtful that it will stay lifted.

Comcast’s story is that they our getting too much spam from Clann’s ISP, dotservant.com, and so need to block everything from that IP address, including clanntartan.org. I doubt this now. Dotservant.com is not the villain; it is the victim. Comcast is the villain.

To see this simply search Google for comcast email blocking. You will find a lot of stories about how Comcast is blocking e-mail from competing ISP’s and other businesses, and the suggestion that they are trying to drive smaller firms out of business, for example

http://www.collaborationloop.com/blogs/comcast-versus-the-well.htm
http://www.hvcn.org/comcast.html
http://www.hsh.com/comcastproblem.html

Making a knife

http://www.hidden-tech.net/Policy/comcastproblem.htm

Overly Agressive Email Blocking

What I thought was obtuse bureaucracy now looks like deliberate obstruction.

Yesterday a couple members have suggested that I move colgaffneyis web and email to
other providers who they said were not being blacklisted. I was reluctant to do this because

1. Moving all this stuff can be a lot harder than it seems, especially since my predecessor left me no documentation. Yes, I know the hosting services say it is no problem. Used car salemen say similar things.

2. What if Comcast decides to block our new ISP? We will be right back where we started, except poorer.

It now appears that concern (2) is well founded. The only safe ISP would be Comcast itself. I won’t do that.

I have already started to move my personal e-mail to another address.