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Jay


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Good afternoon.

Not book keeping related but maybe an issue for some of you.

Over the past 3 weeks we have had a number of emails returned as undelivered.

I noticed that they were all BT Internet email addresses. 

I discussed this with BT for over an hour who were less than helpful. I then spoke with our IT support who said that BT Spamhost is erroneously blocking our emails.

He is arranging for this to be resolved by way of adding a SPF record to our servers DNS settings. ( I have no idea at all what this means) but this may take around 2 months to resolve.

Fortunately we have an alternative email address so I emailed my "BT Internet " clients of our temporary email address.

Of the 9 clients emailed, 3 have advised they have received similar emails from other Companies that they deal with.

Has anyone else experienced any similar problems and have you resolved them?

 

Best wishes

 

Jay

 

 

 

 

 

 



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SPF (Sender Policy Framework - or I've sometimes seen it referred to as Sender Permission Framework and variations) is a security / spam defence method.

Put simply, it means the mail server *receiving* email that is supposedly from someone@example.com can check that the server it's from is permitted to send email from example.com

The problem with email is that it's very easy to spoof headers. I could quite easily tell my email client that my email address is theresa.may@gov.uk and it would believe me, and allow me to send emails purporting to be from that address. However, if SPF is correctly set up for gov.uk, it is unlikely that my hosting company, and therefore the mail server I use for outgoing mail, is in the list of permitted senders - so any *receiving* mail server that uses SPF to check incoming mail will spot that any such mail I've sent can't possibly be genuine, and reject it.

It isn't a perfect system, because - as is often the case - it does catch out (and therefore inconveniences) legitimate senders, as it has you.

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Vince M Hudd - Soft Rock Software

(I only came here looking for fellow apiarists...)

Jay


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Hi Vincent.

Thank you for taking the time to explain this. It now makes sense. 

 

Best wishes

 

Jay



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Expert

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Who the hell is Vincent?

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Vince M Hudd - Soft Rock Software

(I only came here looking for fellow apiarists...)

Jay


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Whoops, sorry about that.

Jay

 



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It's a pet hate.

You aren't the first, and won't be the last.

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Vince M Hudd - Soft Rock Software

(I only came here looking for fellow apiarists...)



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We used to have this problem when we used an accounts@companyname format

We've changed to firstname.surname@companyname format and things are OK now.

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Julie



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VinceH wrote:

Who the hell is Vincent?


 I could have told you, but only on a starry starry night!

I sometimes get called Jonathan, which I dislike, or Johnny, which I don't mind too much.



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John 

 

 

 Any advice given is for general guidance and professional advice should be sought applicable to your circumstances.



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It's an odd and annoying thing.

Sometimes, a name is altered informally - such as shortening it (Jonathan becomes Jon or Jonny, Robert becomes Rob or Bob, etc). It can be convenient (especially for longer names - Bartholomew versus Bart) and is also a term of endearment. But even then, some people don't like it.

However, it's neither convenient nor friendly to lengthen a name - if someone says their name is Vince, their name is Vince, not Vincent; if someone says their name is Bob, their name is Bob, not Robert.

If anything, in either case - lengthening or shortening - it's actually quite insulting and shows a lack of respect. If someone says their name is 'abc' call them 'abc' - until and unless they say you can call them something else.

Similarly, my middle name is 'M' - just the letter, nothing else - but some people seem incapable of comprehending that simple fact, and try to guess what it must (in their eyes) stand for. Idjits, the lot of 'em.


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Vince M Hudd - Soft Rock Software

(I only came here looking for fellow apiarists...)

Jay


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My apologies again.

It was not a deliberate lengthening, but an error on my part.

I checked your Post Info box and misread your name.

Best wishes

 

Jay

 

 



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Don't panic! That last post was a very general thing, not aimed at you in particular. I did originally add a footnote and say that sometimes it can be down to simply misreading or mishearing - though when I'm feeling particularly grumpy, I'd argue that equates to not paying attention... which is a sign of a lack of respect! :p

But if you want a proper example of a complete lack of respect when it comes to names: I used to know someone who called me Vinny. She specifically asked me what I like to be called, and I said Vince...

And she then *told* me that she'd call me Vinny. Worse than that, she then went on to introduce me as that to people she knew, who then also went on to call me it. I tolerated it, but each and every time it grated.

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Vince M Hudd - Soft Rock Software

(I only came here looking for fellow apiarists...)

Jay


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Hi Vince,

Our BT internet email issues have been resolved, again thank you for your explanation.

I noticed your interest in RISC OS, that take me back a few years.

We used the Acorn Archimedes PCs running a spreadsheet called Pipedream.

At the time I think it was maybe the first PC with a GUI.

Best wishes,

 

Jay

 

 



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AFAIK the Archimedes wasn't the first with a GUI - they started to appear a few years before the machine's release (GEM, for example).

It was certainly the first RISC-based desktop computers aimed at home users, with the in-house designed ARM CPU.

PipeDream is an excellent piece of software. Strictly speaking, it's an integrated word processor and spreadsheet. It was (if memory serves) a successor of View Professional, which started out available as a sideways ROM for the Beeb, and as well as the RISC OS version it was ported to the Z80 processor for use in the Cambridge Computer Z88 - and it was also ported to run on PCs, although that version is no longer available. (The RISC OS version continues to be updated).


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Vince M Hudd - Soft Rock Software

(I only came here looking for fellow apiarists...)

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