What caused the SpamCop domain to be listed and blocked in January 2021?
Summary
What email marketers say10Marketer opinions
Marketer from Email Geeks mentions that while the site is still not loading, bounces due to blocks seem to no longer appear.
Email marketer from StackExchange mentions that even after the domain issue was resolved, some emails might still bounce due to cached negative responses from earlier blacklistings, which can take time to clear across various mail servers.
Email marketer from Mailchimp explains that an expired domain can lead to significant issues for email campaigns, including bounces and damage to sender reputation, advising immediate action to renew and monitor domain health.
Marketer from Email Geeks shares the domain has returned.
Email marketer from EmailGeek Forums explains that the Time-To-Live (TTL) setting on the old DNS record could cause delays in the propagation of the renewed domain, even after the domain was fixed, meaning some servers would still point to the parked domain temporarily.
Email marketer from Sendgrid shares that after resolving domain expiry issues, it's essential to gradually warm up IP addresses to re-establish a good sender reputation and prevent further blacklisting.
Email marketer from Mailjet explains that implementing domain monitoring tools can help detect and alert domain owners to expiry issues before they cause email delivery problems.
Email marketer from MXToolbox explains that a domain experiencing expiry issues can lead to widespread blacklisting and delivery problems because mail servers rely on a healthy DNS setup for verification.
Email marketer from Reddit user u/email_expert suggests that the domain listing issues in SpamCop were likely due to a DNS propagation delay after the domain renewal, causing some users to see parked pages while others saw the correct website.
Email marketer from Litmus shares best practices for monitoring email deliverability after resolving domain issues, including using seed lists and monitoring bounce rates and blacklists to ensure emails reach the inbox.
What the experts say4Expert opinions
Expert from Word to the Wise answers that monitoring domain reputation and proactively checking for expiration dates can prevent unexpected listings and blocks. This includes tracking DNS health and being prepared to resolve issues promptly.
Expert from Email Geeks mentions the site resolving, but advises checking for false positives in bounces. Later notes the site loaded from their phone but not their desktop.
Expert from Email Geeks shares that SpamCop's domain expired and will be listing the world and uncontactable until fixed. He later clarifies that the domain expired around 09:40 GMT.
Expert from Spam Resource explains that domain expiration can lead to a temporary listing and blocking, especially if DNS records are not updated promptly, causing disruptions in service until the domain is renewed and propagated correctly.
What the documentation says5Technical articles
Documentation from ICANN explains that domains go through a lifecycle, and failure to renew before expiration can lead to a 'parked' state or being listed as unavailable until the registrar takes action to rectify it.
Documentation from SpamCop FAQ explains that the domain expiration caused a temporary outage and listing issues, which were resolved by renewing the domain.
Documentation from Spamhaus explains that domain expiry can severely damage the sender's reputation, leading to temporary blacklisting which needs to be addressed actively to recover delivery rates.
Documentation from RFC Editor explains the technical details of DNS records and TTL values, clarifying how caching mechanisms work in the Domain Name System and their impact on propagation delays.
Documentation from Cloudflare explains that DNS caching can cause delays in seeing updated records, meaning after a domain is renewed and the DNS records are updated, ISPs and local machines might still use cached information leading to inconsistent access across different users.