How to contact SURBL and what are their policies regarding delisting and support for ESPs?
Summary
What email marketers say5Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Stack Overflow explains that SURBL lists websites appearing in spam and other unwanted messages. It doesn't block entire domains, only specific URLs known for malicious activity.
Email marketer from Mailgun documentation answers shares ways to monitor your mailgun reputation - setup webhooks to alert you to spam complaints, unsubscribes and bounces.
Email marketer from Email on Acid documentation answers shares blacklists affect your email deliverability which means your emails may not reach your subscribers’ inboxes if your sending IP address or domain is on a blacklist.
Email marketer from EmailDeliverabilityBlog.com suggests monitoring outgoing links and implementing content filtering to prevent users from including URLs to blacklisted sites in their emails.
Email marketer from Reddit user shares experience that SURBL delisting usually happens automatically once the offending content is removed. Direct contact is not generally necessary.
What the experts say5Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks recalls past success with SURBL removals via whitelist@surbl.org but notes they might have stopped doing removals in recent years.
Expert from Word to the Wise (Laura Atkins) responds by sharing there is no central reputation authority for email or websites and blocklists are often used to measure email reputation. They also advise that the deliverability industry has a challenge because it doesn't explain that inbox placement depends on reputation and filtering.
Expert from Spam Resource advises that understanding the specific URI blocklist's policies is crucial for delisting. They emphasize that proactive monitoring and prevention are more effective than reactive delisting efforts.
Expert from Email Geeks explains SURBL generally doesn't offer help or provide information about the specific customer causing a listing. They suggest the listing might indicate a broader issue affecting delivery.
Expert from Email Geeks shares that SURBL historically hasn't been open to direct contact and views itself as not a FBL. They expect senders to identify problem customers independently. Major mailbox providers might use SURBL internally for scoring, but not as a blocklist.
What the documentation says3Technical articles
Documentation from URIBL explains it's a Realtime URI Blacklist that identifies domains found in unsolicited bulk email. They emphasize listing URLs, not entire domains or IPs.
Documentation from SURBL.org explains that SURBL does not provide direct contact information for delisting requests. Instead, they recommend resolving the underlying issues causing the listing.
Documentation from Spamhaus clarifies that while they maintain various blocklists, they are separate from SURBL. Issues with Spamhaus listings should be addressed through Spamhaus's established channels.