Accessing Your
E-mail
Your username and password were e-mailed to you when your
account was set up. Please refer to that information when
configuring your e-mail program.
If you need to set up additional unique e-mail addresses,
and your account comes with additional POP E-mail accounts,
you can create them by following the instructions here.
Since there are many different versions of e-mail programs
some of these instructions might not be exactly the same for
your program. All mail programs however ask the same basic
questions and should be very similar to the following instructions.
Important Notes: when setting up your e-mail
account for the first time make sure you check for new mail
before trying to send a message. If you don't, it will come up
with an error when trying to send that message. This is only
necessary when setting up your e-mail account for the first
time or if you have changed Internet connections. If you
followed the above instructions but still get an error, you
may need to modify the advanced settings in your e-mail
client. Every e-mail client is different, but they should all
have an option similar to "SMTP Server Requires
Authentication..." in the advanced account settings, this
option needs to be activated. If that still does not fix the
problem, please contact
Loft Productions Technical Support.
If you are able to receive mail okay but are receiving
errors while trying to send mail this is most likely caused by
your ISP not allowing you to use an external SMTP outgoing
mail server. More and more ISP's are only allowing their
subscribers to use their outgoing SMTP mail server. This is
easily fixed by switching yourdomain.com as the out going SMTP
mail server to your ISP's SMTP outgoing mail server.
Make sure you set your e-mail program to delete
e-mail from the server after you have downloaded it to your
computer. You do not want to leave the e-mail on the mail
server. If you do that your e-mail box will overfill on the
server and cause your mailbox to not work properly.
Microsoft Outlook
Express
- Goto Tools | Accounts
- Click on Add | Mail
- In Display Name, type whatever you want. Click Next
- E-mail address: yourdomain@yourdomain.com Click Next
- My incoming mail server is a POP3.
- Incoming Mail (POP3) server: yourdomain.com
- Outgoing Mail (SMTP) server: yourdomain.com
- Click Next
- POP account name: [username@yourdomain.com], Password:
[password] Click Next.
- Internet Mail Account Name: whatever you want
- Choose your connection type depending on your connection
method. If using AOL, choose Connect through ...LAN...
option.
- Click Finish
Netscape
Communicator
- Goto Edit | Preferences | Identity
- In E-mail Address, enter yourdomain@yourdomain.com
- In Reply to, enter yourdomain@yourdomain.com
- Goto Mail & Group
- In Mail server user name, enter username@yourdomain.com
- Outgoing Mail (SMTP) server: yourdomain.com
- Incoming Mail (POP3) server: yourdomain.com
- Click OK
Eudora
- Select Options from the Tools menu
- Select the Getting Started tab, then under Real Name,
enter your Real Name
- Under POP Account put yourdomain@yourdomain.com
- In Return Address, enter yourdomain@yourdomain.com
- Click the Hosts tab then enter yourdomain@yourdomain.com
again under POP Account, and put yourdomain.com under SMTP
Server.
- Go to the Checking Mail tab and make sure Save Password
is checked.
Web Based
E-mail
- Install IMP or Neomail on your account
- Follow the link provided in the Site Applications menu
to the login screen for IMP or Neomail
- Enter your username into the top text box labeled
"UserName"
- Enter your password into the bottom text box labeled
"Password"
- Click the "Login" button
Other Mail
Programs
Bouncing
E-mail
The term 'bouncing e-mail" refers to the configuration of
your e-mail on the server to either receive the incoming
e-mail, or reject that e-mail and send it back to the sender.
To reject the e-mail and send it back to the sender is called
"Bouncing E-mail".
If you are receiving a lot of e-mail to addresses that do
not exist on your account, then you probably have a
"catch-all" e-mail alias set up. What this does is configures
your Loft Productions account to accept all e-mail that is sent to you
as long as it has "@yourdomain.com"
attached to it (of course replacing "yourdomain.com" with your domain name).
There are pros and cons to the "catch-all". The biggest pro
of course is that you get all mail that is sent to your domain
name, very useful if people often mis spell your e-mail
username. The biggest con is also that you get all mail that
is sent to your domain name. Many spammers rely on the
"catch-all" feature when creating their large e-mail lists. If
you have a "catch-all" set up on your account, you have
probably received spam sent to you with e-mail usernames that
do not exist (i.e. "specialoffer@yourdomain.com").
If you would like to bounce all e-mail that is sent to
non-exsisting e-mail accounts (or non-existing e-mail aliases
that you have set up), you will need to disable your
"catch-all" alias on your account. You can learn how to do
this by going to the e-mail
alias section of this manual.
If you don't want to bounce all non-existing e-mail
account, but just want to bounce a few specific user names,
this can be accomplished by following the steps below. For our
example, we will say that we want to bounce all e-mail that is
sent to the username "bob".
- Log into your Site Manager (http://www.yourdomain.com/manager/ - replacing yourdomain.com with your domain name).
- Click on "E-mail/FTP Management" from the top
navigation bar.
- Click the "New E-mail/FTP" button.
- Fill out the first screen of the "E-mail/FTP
Wizard" (see Figure 3.2.1)
(Figure 3.2.1 - E-mail/FTP Wizard screen 1
of 3. In our example we are bouncing the username
"bob")
- Click "Next>>".
- Un-check the "Enable E-mail:" check box (see
Figure 3.2.2).
(Figure 3.2.2 - E-mail/FTP Wizard screen 2
of 3. Un-check the "Enable E-mail:" check box)
- Click "Next>>".
- Un-check the "Enable FTP:" check box (see Figure
3.2.3).
(Figure 3.2.3 - E-mail/FTP Wizard Screen 3
of 3. Un-check the "Enable FTP:" check box)
- Click "Finish".
- You will be returned to the main "E-mail/FTP
Management" screen.
Now any e-mail that is sent to "bob@yourdomain.com" would
be bounced back to the sender.
What is
Spam?
Spam is unsolicited e-mail. Most users of e-mail have a
good idea what spam is and want it to stop. In July of 2002,
unsolicited bulk e-mail made up 36 percent of all e-mail
traveling over the Internet, up from 8 percent in 2001.
E-mail advertisements (spam) have been around as long as
e-mail has. Internet marketers have found spamming a very cost
effective way of getting their advertisement sent to thousands
of people. These tactics however, put the burden on people who
do not wish to receive such e-mail. New anti spam blocking
software in a way has made the problem worse. Such
Technologies have made it harder for Spammers to connect with
unwilling customers, so they compensate by sending out more
e-mail. This would be the reason why you receive the same spam
e-mail 10+ times.
Why Does It Look
Like I Sent It?
Often you will receive a Spam e-mail that looks like you
sent it. This is another common tactic that spammers use to
hide the location they are sending the e-mail from. In order
to do this spammers forge the e-mail headers and insert your
address into the "from" part of the e-mail.
NOTE: It is important to understand that even
though the e-mail looks like it is coming from you, it is not
in fact sent using your e-mail account. Usually you can find
the real address just by viewing the raw e-mail
header.
Another popular trick spammers use is to forge the e-mail
header with your server information. The e-mail will appear to
be sent from a Loft Productions server such as
"Loft ProductionsXX.Loft Productions.net" ("XX" would be the number of the
server your account is on, like "32" for example").
NOTE: These messages were not sent by Loft Productions.
Loft Productions will never send you any mail with your server
information as part of the address. Any mail that is sent with
your server information as part of the address will be spam.
This can easily be blocked
or filtered.
What is
Loft Productions's Policy About Spam?
Loft Productions does not in any way support the sending of
unsolicited bulk e-mail. We do not allow spam to be sent from
our servers or reference a site hosted by us. We take swift
action against any discovered spammers hosted by us. More
information about our policies on spam can be found on our Policies and
Guidelines page.
Does Loft Productions
offer Any Spam Protection?
Loft Productions just recently installed SpamAssassin on all of the
servers. SpamAssassin works by viewing the contents of an
e-mail message and scoring it based on certain keywords found
in common spam messages such as "get rich quick", "make money
fast" and words with connotation to the adult industry. This
system will tag potential spam messages with "**POSSIBLE
SPAM**" in the subject line of the e-mail.
NOTE: E-mail messages that are forwarded
to other non-Loft Productions accounts by way of e-mail
aliasing do not have the benefit of SpamAssassin.
If you would like to customize the settings of SpamAssassin
on your account this can be done by editing the "user_prefs"
file found in the ".spamassassin" directory located in your
home directory (/home/username/.spamassassin/).
NOTE: Currently only the default e-mail account
is available for customization, SpamAssassin settings cannot
be modified on additional pop accounts.
This is the basic layout of the user_prefs file.(Fig
1.1)
(Figure 1.1)
By default the user_prefs file is not active. To enable a
particular line you will need to remove the "#" from the
line.
The "required hits" number is the sensitivity setting of
SpamAssassin. Making the number larger will allow more e-mail
to come through without being tagged as possible spam.
Lowering that number makes it more sensitive and will tag more
e-mail as spam. It is impossible to find the "perfect" number
that will tag all spam without also tagging some
legitimate e-mail, but by trial and error you will be able to
set this number at the right level for your personal needs and
tastes.
The "blacklist" feature allows you to automatically tag any
e-mail from a specific domain or e-mail address. This is very
useful if you have somehow been added to mailing lists or
newsletters that you do not wish to receive. By adding those
addresses here, you will tag all future e-mails from those
known addresses and domains.
The "whitelist" feature will prevent SpamAssassin from
tagging an e-mail from a domain or specific e-mail address
regardless of the content. This is very useful when you have
signed up for a specific newsletter or mailing list that
consistently gets tagged as spam. Adding those known addresses
and domain names will allow those e-mails to be received
without trouble.
The following Example is set up with a sensitivity of 3.
All e-mail from the domain "@e-mailspam.com" and the e-mail
address "johndoe@hotmail.com" is going to be tagged as
possible spam using the "blacklist" option. In this example,
we have set the whitelist to allow all e-mail from
"newsletter@golfdigest.com" and anything sent from
"Loft Productions.com" to come through without being tagged as
spam.(Fig 1.2)
(Figure 1.2)
If you would like SpamAssassin removed from your account,
please let us know by submitting a support request through our
Loft Productions
Contact Form.
How Can I Filter
Spam?
Now that you have SpamAssassin set to tag any spam messages
sent to you with "**POSSIBLE SPAM**" in the subject line of
that e-mail, you will need to use your e-mail client to filter
that e-mail. We suggest that you make a new folder
specifically for this purpose, and send all e-mail tagged as
spam to that folder which you can then check periodically to
make sure that no legitimate e-mail was accidentally tagged as
spam. Once you are sure that all the e-mail in that folder is
spam, you can then delete the contents of that folder.
Below are instructions on how to filter e-mail with the
three most common e-mail clients. If your e-mail client is not
listed here, you will need to consult your help documentation
for instructions on how to filter e-mail.
Microsoft
Outlook Express 6.0
- Goto Tools | Message Rules
- Click on Mail
- In section 1. check the box that says "Where the Subject
line contains specific words"
- In section 2. Check the box that says "Move it to the
specified folder"
- In section 3. click on the blue link that says "contains
specific words"
- In the "Type Specific Word" Box Type in **POSSIBLE
SPAM** and click the Add button then click the "OK" button.
- Back in section 3. click on the blue link that says
"specified" This will bring up a list of outlook folders.
- Select the "Deleted Items" folder and click the "OK"
button.
- In section 4. name the rule "SpamAssassin" and click
"OK".
Netscape
7.0
- Goto Tools | Message Filters...
- Click on the "New" button. This will bring up the Filter
Rules Box.
- In the "Filter name:" text box type in "SpamAssassin".
- Select the "Match any of the following" radio button
- Change the options so that the "Subject" "Contains"
"**POSSIBLE SPAM**"
- In the "Perform this action:" section select "Move this
folder to trash"
- Select the "OK" button.
Eudora
- Goto Tools | Filters. This will bring up the filters
box.
- Click on the "New" Button in the Bottom left corner.
- In the Match section check the "Incoming" box.
- Change the "Header:" drop down box to "Subject:"
"Contains" "**POSSIBLE SPAM**"
- In the Actions section change the first drop down box to
"Transfer To" This will enable a button that will let you
select a folder. Select the "Trash" folder.
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