Check my reasoning on this...

In the "Yet another reason why AOL sucks" department:

I am trying to troubleshoot a problem with a client who uses AOL for their email, and they send to sizeable groups of opt-in email addresses from their computer. AOL has enabled IMAP support for email, and this client has been successfully using this for a year now.

Starting just a few weeks ago, thing stopped working properly.

Emails to large groups would generate a "554 TRANSACTION FAILED" error. Interestingly, first it would happen to the BCCed mailing lists, but after a time would also happen to emails sent to single addresses.

My first thought was the IP address was being blocked, and some research in the AOL help files supported that idea. AOL blocks dynamic IP addresses from using their outgoing mail (SMTP) server, but the service WAS working fine - and the SMTP server being used was authenticating to this clients email address. AOL KNOWS WHO IS SENDING THE EMAIL, AND THEY ARE CHOOSING TO BLOCK IT.

AND THE EMAILS ALL SEND JUST FINE IF THE CLIENT USES THE AOL SOFTWARE TO SEND THE EMAILS. This problem ONLY happens when using the IMAP access.

What I cannot figure out for certain is WHY. Why would AOL hobble their nice feature this way? What business purpose does this satisfy? WHY WOULD IT WORK THOUGH THEIR SOFTWARE BUT NOT THROUGH THEIR IMAP/SMTP?!

My best guess at this point is that AOL has recently implemented some sort of algorithm that says if a certain number of emails are sent in a certain timespan, throttle back the ability to sent more mail. For example (numbers are my guesses):

If 10 emails are sent in an hour, everything is fine.
If 100 emails are sent in an hour, prevent mail to groups of more than 10 from being sent (for 12 hours)
If 200 emails are sent in an hour, prevent mail to groups of more than 1 from being sent (for 24 hours)
If 250 emails are sent in an hour, prevent ALL email from being sent for 24 hours.

Or maybe it's more simple than that:
If the average number of emails being sent exceeds 100 per hour, prevent any email from being sent that would cause the average to grow, and allow emails to be sent that would allow the average to decline below 100 per hour.

In any case, I cannot get anyone to give me a straightforward answer. AOL tech support BARELY knows anything about the IMAP configuration. They just read from a script asking you to re-enter the configurations... And I know they are correct, OTHERWISE THINGS WOULD NOT HAVE WORKED BEFORE.

I went so far as the enter the client's AOL configuration on my test machine, on a totally different IP address (and in another CITY as a matter of fact). The problem recurred - it is definitely linked to the way AOL authorizes the clients account. If I enter my account information in place of the clients I am able to send mail.


So, now I am stumped. I decided to run a protocol analyzer on the connection to see if the SMTP server was giving more information about the error. It's not. Here is all it says, in its entirety, as captured by Ethereal:

554- 554 AOL will not accept delivery of this message
554 TRANSACTION FAILED


Whoa. Really helps. Could hardly be more cryptic. AOL SUCKS.

What am I missing here?

About that new computer

... It's been running great. So great, in fact, that I've not taken the time to write more about it.

I've Installed Half-Life 2 on it, and played the game all the way through at 1024X768 resolution with all of the fancy graphics features turned up to their maximum setting.

It was like being in a movie. It was a TOTALLY different experience from my first play-through. It was perfect.

I now have been playing: America's Army, Battlefield 2, Battlefield 1942, Brothers in Arms, Dungeon Siege 2, Far Cry, Gunz, Half-Life 2, Mech Commander 2, and Wolfenstein - Enemy Territory

I can play games that used to CHOKE my old computer. At screen resolutions that would make my old machine sputter.

Some interesting tidbits:

1) with 2GB of RAM, the machine almost always has over 1GB of free, available RAM, even when playing games. I use the freeware program FreeRAM XP Pro to check.
2) the Athlon 64 3200+ easily overclocks from 2Ghz to 2.2Ghz. Nice little performance boost.
3) I can now play Battlefield 1942 with 63 bots on my machine and have zero slow-downs. Whoa. And the game looks better with the graphics settings raised up. I have learned when you blow things up, they actually explode in the game, and not just "break".

And now, since my game machine is "all growed up"... It's time for a new game server. While reading digg.com I learned that Gateway was selling a really cheap server machine for $199 (again - with no mail-in rebate!). The specs were pretty low: 256MB RAM, 80GB SATA Hard Drive, 2.8Ghz Celeron D CPU... but those were good starting places for a decent game server. I bought one... But not for $199.

It turns out that AAA members get a 10% discount at Gateway! I called in an order and saved $20 on it! The salesperson I talked to did not even know about the offer, but he conceded it was a great deal, and was then considering one for himself. The price including shipping and taxes was under $225.00. Now... I'm shopping for more RAM, and it'll be done.

Later everyone. Gotta burn me some more DVD-Rs.

If you hate mail-in rebates, you may like this...

I do not enjoy mail-in rebates - I doubt anyone does. I also dislike CompUSA; my experiences there have mostly been less than satisfactory, as I usually know more about what I am buying than the salesperson does. It is this dislike (not quite "hate") of CompUSA that compels me to purchase things there that are cheap or free after rebate. Ok, that and the sometimes amazing values I can achieve. Like this story...

I burn a lot of CD-Rs and DVD-Rs, so I by them by the hundred, without cases. Lately, I've needed a lot of DVD-Rs, and my stock had dwindled to around 60 blanks... so last week, when I saw the CompUSA Sunday ad in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, I was happy to note their sale of 100 packs of DVD-R or DVD+R discs for $24.99 without mail-in rebates. Not bad... I typically pay around $40 for 100 namebrand 8X media (and when burning DVDs, speed REALLY matters).

The media CompUSA was selling was their own brand of 4X discs, not the fastest stuff available, but they'll only take me about 25 minutes to burn an verify. And $0.25/disc is a very good price.

But not the best I could do.

It turns out the CompUSA has had a deal with America Online to encourage people to sign up. If you spend a $25, you can sign up and get $10 off your purchase. If you spend $50, you can sign up and get $15 off your purchase. The sign up processes is a bit cumbersome, but less so (and quicker) than the mail-in rebate process: The CompUSA associate must fill out a web-based form with your information, including a credit card number, and print out a sheet for you with your information on it. Also, if you go at a slow time, you can talk the salesperson into giving you multiple sign-ups for multiple discounts. Which is exactly what I did.

I bought 3 packs of 4X DVD-Rs for $14.99 plus tax each.

Now, the kicker: you're thinking "Hey! didn't you just sign up for AOL 3 times?" Yep, and a quick phone call and some fancy talking later will cancel those three accounts without any bill on my card. I've done this a LOT.

And the kicker, part II: AOL only lets you use the same credit card to sign up for the discount 5 - 10 times. After that, they deny the sign-up BUT YOU STILL GET THE DISCOUNT. THERE IS NOTHING TO CALL TO CANCEL. I didn't even have to call to cancel these three accounts.

Just another day screwing with CompUSA.