[SOLVED] PHPMailer (using gmail sent to yahoo) vs Outlook(using gmail sent to yahoo)

[angelcool]

Hello community:

 

This post is absolutely (and only) a way to troubleshoot the developing of an application and by no means this is related to the creation of spam, having said that I will not appreciate comments indicating/questioning otherwise.

 

I am developing a PHP application that will send a confirmation mail upon finalizing a task (html form confirmation). What I have noticed when using PHPMailer (using a gmail account) to send mail to ymail.com (yahoo.com) is that it is being classified as spam.

 

On the other hand, when connecting to the same gmail account using Outlook Express to send a test mail to the same destination account at ymail.com the email will NOT be classified as spam this time.

 

This leads me to the hypothesis that the reason why ymail.com is classifying these emails as spam is the application generating the e-mail (PHPMailer).

 

I will include the email headers supplied at the ymail.com account:

 

//BEING CLASSIFIED AS SPAM BY YAHOO.COM (sent using PHPMailer V2.2)

 

From MyProject.net Thu Nov  6 18:11:45 2008

Return-Path: <angelitoestebancito@gmail.com>

Authentication-Results: mta371.mail.re4.yahoo.com  from=gmail.com; domainkeys=pass (ok)

Received: from 209.85.162.177  (EHLO el-out-1112.google.com) (209.85.162.177)

  by mta371.mail.re4.yahoo.com with SMTP; Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:12:05 -0800

Received: by el-out-1112.google.com with SMTP id v27so381697ele.13

        for <projectest@ymail.com>; Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:12:05 -0800 (PST)

DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed;

        d=gmail.com; s=gamma;

        h=domainkey-signature:received:received:date:to:from:reply-to:subject

        :message-id:x-priority:x-mailer:mime-version:content-type;

        bh=TpbipaoKgX5MGHSMmYwwirQSCDT7rCdmiqk7N4YJsiw=;

        b=GDWqtgcdw/+jcXy9KyYDKDtoDNHHrSga+Mir0GVoAxQwdkT2J3fdUl22D+NbhUqujH

        Bon7xVoabhkdr9ALzBTikVbDurQE53WV+3DL0WWL9gPzAvSQVO5LF6qCDBnXBbSWmDCq

        M+GLRdEa8OBJkc+LtlpOGPylIc5CFZAYGRSpA=

DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws;

        d=gmail.com; s=gamma;

        h=date:to:from:reply-to:subject:message-id:x-priority:x-mailer

        :mime-version:content-type;

        b=rBrSXVOzo+oWiAPYU1OD5ajb39w9p0dW98dOADLt1zjV/mxy3wR7txdSzw5Bdhx1Yj

        07vKqa6UEbQbo70NKlJjR52Uh235qCVMQRsojwLUia0t7z4T1otW/0A7ybfPY+CXPtKg

        xrjlpgTaEPMZK4xJwtmeXP+Td4jL/z4dU0sWY=

Received: by 10.231.19.198 with SMTP id c6mr874715ibb.22.1225995125257;

        Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:12:05 -0800 (PST)

Return-Path: <angelitoestebancito@gmail.com>

Received: from fedoraserver (pool-71-108-224-222.lsanca.dsl-w.verizon.net [71.108.224.222])

        by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id 4sm1997220yxq.9.2008.11.06.10.12.03

        (version=SSLv3 cipher=RC4-MD5);

        Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:12:04 -0800 (PST)

Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 10:11:45 -0800

Return-Path: angelitoestebancito@gmail.com

To: 321321 321321 <projectest@ymail.com>

From: "MyProject.net" <angelitoestebancito@gmail.com>

Reply-to: REPLY <angelitoestebancito@gmail.com>

Subject: mail sent with phpmailer

Message-ID: <8f4732fa5e99414186e9c04eb5c60f44@fedoraserver>

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: multipart/alternative;

boundary="b1_8f4732fa5e99414186e9c04eb5c60f44"

Content-Length: 1153

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

//NOT CLASSIFIED AS SPAM BY YAHOO.COM(sent in outlook)

 

From MyProject.net Thu Nov  6 18:14:20 2008

Return-Path: <angelitoestebancito@gmail.com>

Authentication-Results: mta191.mail.re3.yahoo.com  from=gmail.com; domainkeys=pass (ok)

Received: from 209.85.162.178  (EHLO el-out-1112.google.com) (209.85.162.178)

  by mta191.mail.re3.yahoo.com with SMTP; Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:14:42 -0800

Received: by el-out-1112.google.com with SMTP id v27so366651ele.11

        for <projectest@ymail.com>; Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:14:41 -0800 (PST)

DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed;

        d=gmail.com; s=gamma;

        h=domainkey-signature:received:received:message-id:from:to:subject

        :date:mime-version:content-type:x-priority:x-msmail-priority

        :x-mailer:x-mimeole;

        bh=Kkhi6ea7HcaD2Jeq4wUNkoPm3eZiMFfK2WYslVA9FIY=;

        b=APjJdJ9fcRdxH5srfeInkjyhLxzXmP5+SQjWOre2waZzgI9vryeCJRWKHBu+T1pFUa

        ZA6zb3ZpvwJ7hsLer5CU3KeLpFwrPaJtkX8/luU6qDidgNN5k0t0m3dPvXIibl5JipyL

        ZZ0kirbRGEJ3WKSeDskzjkLu62wTj3pnMbxe0=

DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws;

        d=gmail.com; s=gamma;

        h=message-id:from:to:subject:date:mime-version:content-type

        :x-priority:x-msmail-priority:x-mailer:x-mimeole;

        b=FHQkWoTUPJr8r/GDJqTpZOe0uWNyRFoCuCiZ/QZZOKX0nNlIZE6jvVVxp5KbBN/Ssy

        fchPDV3XlW7nei+3kXAL3dqlEtezyhJhfITyGn1QbTOlkgtP6wEKX23aQ4hzwgrvvkCm

        JYgivtmHnwg6eY3oYUxJhOqHfY3Ei4ImTanic=

Received: by 10.231.16.75 with SMTP id n11mr880100iba.7.1225995281664;

        Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:14:41 -0800 (PST)

Return-Path: <angelitoestebancito@gmail.com>

Received: from xphost (pool-71-108-224-222.lsanca.dsl-w.verizon.net [71.108.224.222])

        by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id 4sm4450800yxj.7.2008.11.06.10.14.39

        (version=SSLv3 cipher=RC4-MD5);

        Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:14:41 -0800 (PST)

Message-ID: <002101c9403b$7f52c9f0$330a0a0a@xphost>

From: "MyProject.net" <angelitoestebancito@gmail.com>

To: <projectest@ymail.com>

Subject: mail sent with outlook

Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 10:14:20 -0800

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: multipart/alternative;

boundary="----=_NextPart_000_001E_01C93FF8.6EE042C0"

Content-Length: 766

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

After comparing this two headers I get to the conclusion that the only reason why the first header will be classified as spam relies on the signatures (DomainKey-Signature  and/or DKIM-Signature).

 

Would someone else has a better reason why is this?

 

Thank you.

 

Angel Cool

 

[BrandonK]

Key differences I see are (these are the spam entries):

To: 321321 321321 <projectest@ymail.com>

Reply-to: REPLY <angelitoestebancito@gmail.com>

 

Also, your content length is different, so there the messages aren't 100% the same.

[angelcool]

Good point, BrandonK !

 

I have noticed that right after i made the post. I corrected  the name (I gues that what i get for typing whatever) and got rid of the:Reply-to: REPLY <angelitoestebancito@gmail.com>

 

:-( Still did not work.

 

BINGO!! ..the Content-Length. I have been testing PHP-Mailer with HTML content; so I went and got rid of the HTML and just typed in plain text: "test". This time it went right into the inbox folder!.

 

Content issue with HTML, ha! I will check my Content-Type entry an will get back with results.

 

;-)

[angelcool]

 

Turns out when inlcuding bare IP links (eg:http://10.10.10.25/thankyou.php) in your email HTML code, yahoo will classified your email as spam.

 

Links should only be like: http://your-domain-name/thankyou.php

 

Resolved!

 

;-)