PM generated via Groups.io Service fails DMARC - What should I tell support (beyond that)?

[britechguy]

It has been too many years since I was dealing with "the guts of email" for me to recall all the information I probably should when an issue like this comes up. Here's a redacted screenshot from Gmail:

When any email message that originated as a private message generated via the Groups.io web interface, using their "Private" button, it gets marked with a big yellow "suspicious" banner. I have, for months, been marking these as "not suspicious" hoping it might retrain Google's filters, but it did not, and I did not dig deeper until today.

I have already reported to Groups.io support that these messages are failing DMARC and sent them the unredacted version of what's above. I am just wondering if I should be "pre-loaded" with any other information for discussions with Groups.io support or, heaven forfend it should come to that, with Google.

Any assistance is appreciated.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Running their domain against some of the tests at mxtoolbox, they're on a blacklist...might be a contributing factor.
They do have an SPF...granted...pretty large one, but...I've only seen Google ding senders that don't' have an SPF or a malconfigured one. I'm not sure if Google dings senders for lack of DMARC.

 

[britechguy]

I have never understood how Groups.io could come to be blacklisted, other than by some idiotic members intentionally marking messages they didn't like as spam.

It's a subscription hybrid online forum/email list service. You only get email messages from them if you have subscribed to some group or groups, and given that the process requires you to confirm your subscription via a link sent to the email specified, it can't happen "accidentally."

 

[nlinecomputers]

I have never understood how Groups.io could come to be blacklisted, other than by some idiotic members intentionally marking messages they didn't like as spam.

It's a subscription hybrid online forum/email list service. You only get email messages from them if you have subscribed to some group or groups, and given that the process requires you to confirm your subscription via a link sent to the email specified, it can't happen "accidentally."

I see this all the time: Stupid people subscribe and then get too many emails, they quit reading them, and forget how they got signed up. So instead of unsubscribing, they mark them as spam.

 

[britechguy]

I see this all the time:

So do I, but as a moderator I raise holy hell about it when it happens. The problem these days is that it happens as much from automated spam filters triggering on something, who knows what, in a given message's content.

I'm constantly getting messages from Groups.io itself saying that so and so has been unsubscribed for marking a message as spam, then noting that this may not be the result of direct user action and that the user has been sent a message with a resubscribe link if the unsubscription was in error. I'd say at least 8 times out of 10 that user has resubscribed within less than 5 hours of those messages arriving in my inbox.

This is another reason I try to educate clients (and my group members) that if any message is ever marked as spam that is not spam that they can and should take the time to use whatever "mark as NOT spam" feature their email or webmail client provides. That should be part of an automated feedback loop that allows spam filters to be updated.

 

[Markverhyden]

Google is responsible for getting the DMARC records created and implemented. Blacklisting doesn't just have to happen to be related to being marked as spam. Failing to have 1 or more of the required published records can get you in that category.

 

[britechguy]

Google is responsible for getting the DMARC records created and implemented.

Serious question: Why would it be Google's responsibility?

I would have thought this was something configured by the sender's end (Groups.io, in this case), not the recipient's end.

 

[Markverhyden]

Serious question: Why would it be Google's responsibility?

I would have thought this was something configured by the sender's end (Groups.io, in this case), not the recipient's end.

My bad. Akamai owns that and I thought Goggle had bought them some time ago. Turns out Akamai is still an independent company.