I can't email my BellSouth telephone representative.  All email is
returned wit hthe message:

   ----- Transcript of session follows -----
... while talking to iocspam.bls.com.:
>>> DATA
<<< 421 Service not available, closing transmission channel
<Jill.Messer@BellSouth.com>... Deferred: Connection reset by
iocspam.bls.com.

Please Help me.  Thanks.

Thorne
Thorne@ThorneDHarrisIII.com

Hello tdh,

Thanks for your question.

Very interesting. I first emailed Ms. Messer at both bellsouth.com and
bellsouth.net just to check if that might have been the problem.


-----Original Message-----
From: clouseau-ga
Sent: Wednesday, September 11, 2002 11:57 AM
To: jill.messer@bellsouth.com
Cc: jill.messer@bellsouth.net
Subject: Please reply ASAP


Hello,
 
This is a test message sent as a customer of yours is having
difficulty reaching you by email. If you receive this, please reply
ASAP and I will assist them in connecting with you.
 
Thanks so much.


She replied immediately:

YES I RECEIVED THIS 

This was from the bellsouth.com address.

So, she is not having email difficulty. Looking more closely at your
message, I see "Connection reset by iocspam.bls.com".

I searched google for iocspam and found only a message at
spamcop-help: http://news.spamcop.net/pipermail/spamcop-help/2002-May/003923.html

This provided little information. I then searched "Connection reset
by" to gather more information. I found:

http://8help.ohio-state.edu/34527.html

ISSUE: I get "Connection reset by remote side (10054)" when I try to
check or send mail.

SOLUTION: The most common cause of this error message is if one of
your settings is incorrect. Go to Tools: Options: Getting Started.
Verify your settings, especially-

login name: username.# 

Mail Server (Incoming): pop.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

SMTP Server (Outgoing): smtp.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Also, your settings should probably have the host and domain names
spelled out, not the IP addresses (numbers). If you have any doubts
about what your POP account and SMTP server are, your Internet Service
Provider or system administrator can tell you that information.

Possible that this could be your problem, and worth checking. But most
likely not it.

Sandhills Technical Support,
http://support.pinehurst.net/netscape/network_error.html , mentions:

"Question: 

When I try to download something from a particular site, I receive a
message that the connection was reset by peer. How do I resolve this?

Answer: 

A connection reset by peer message means that the site you are
connected to has reset the connection. This is usually caused by a
high amount of traffic on the site, but may be caused by a server
error as well. You will need to contact the site administrator or
webmaster and inform them of this error message if it persists.

Usually waiting a short amount of time and trying to access that site
again is all it takes to get through to it."

So, now I'm becoming more curious about   iocspam.bls.com . It appears
that it might be a spam filtering system either incoming to
bellsouth.com that is rejecting mail from your domain thinking it is a
known spam relay and has blacklisted it, OR it is a filter at your
domain that believes mail FROM bellsouth.com is spam and is rejecting
it.

So, I trotted over to http://www.internic.com/whois.html , the whois
database at Internic and checked iocspam.bls.com. There was no match.
I then checked bls.com and found:

Domain Name: BLS.COM
   Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, INC.
   Whois Server: whois.networksolutions.com
   Referral URL: http://www.networksolutions.com
   Name Server: IOCEXTDNS1.BLS.COM
   Name Server: IOCEXTDNS2.BLS.COM
   Updated Date: 05-nov-2001

Not quite what I was expecting as I expected it to clearly say
BellSouth, but what is interesting is that we have iocextdns1.bls.com,
which I believe means something along the lines of Internet Operations
Center Domain Name Server at BellSouth. So I am now reasonably
confident that iocspam.bls.com is a spam filter AT BellSouth that is
rejecting YOUR email.

I then checked http://www.accesswhois.com/default.asp for bls.com and
verified my hunch:

Registrant:
Bell South Intellectual Property Corporation (BLS1-DOM)
   824 Market Street Suite 510
   Wilmington
   DE,19801
   US

   Domain Name: BLS.COM


So, let's see what we can find with ThorneDHarrisIII.com.

Error:
Invalid form input "ThorneDHarrisIII.com"

I'll try namescout:

I'm sure you know that your information comes up as the registered
owner, though I am unable to tell who is hosting your web site or
email account and which smtp (simple mail transport protocol) server
you are using, which is most likely what is being rejected by the
BellSouth spam filter. It appears, from further checking, that it
might be WEBSTREAM.NET, and searching google for webstream.net +spam
does show this provider listed with some spam filters as a known site
for spam or spam relaying. This could well be the entire problem. Do
check if you have this listed as your SMTP transport in your email
client.

I emailed Ms Messer again with the following:

Thanks so much for the reply. This becomes more curious. Can you help
with this error the user experiences when trying to email you?
 
while talking to iocspam.bls.com.: 
 

>>> DATA 
<<< 421 Service not available, closing transmission channel 
<Jill.Messer@BellSouth.com>... Deferred: Connection reset by 
iocspam.bls.com. 

Could it be that YOUR spam filter is rejecting mail from HIS domain?
 
Any help is appreciated.


She replied:

" I had it confirmed that we are not blocking email addresses unless
they have an attachment with a possible or suspected virus."

So, perhaps you are sending email in HTML format and the graphics
appear as an attachment when received at BellSouth? It is also
possible that your email might be infected with a virus and is
attaching a file that you did not intend to attach.

***************************************************

For whatever the reason, it is clear that your email is being rejected
(and the connection closed) at BellSouth as either suspected spam or
possibly virus infected.

***************************************************

So, to restate:

I would double check the settings in my email client to be sure they
are using the correct POP and SMTP settings by domain name and not IP
address number.

Try sending your email as plain text with no attachment.

Use a GOOD virus checking program like Symantec Norton Anti-Virus and
check your system to be sure it is virus free.

Try sending an email to Ms. Messer from a different account.

I have asked MS Messer to email you to intiate the dialog. It would be
useful to see if your replies to her email are also rejected and
blocked.

I hope this has been helpful and informative for you.

Regards,

-=clouseau-ga=-

---

Request for Answer Clarification by tdh-ga on 11 Sep 2002 11:08 PDT

This is not really a request for clarification.  I was able to get
through using a different account with same format, same content, and
same Norton antivirus settings.  Apparently, all emails from
webstream.net are being filtered, which blocks my main email account! 
Even replies, to answer your question.

Thanks.  I had already gone through pretty much the same steps you did
and come to the same conclusion.  The test from the other email
address (tdhiii@bellsouth.net) went through fine.

Your answer appears to be correct and I will rate accordingly. 
Thanks.

Now all I have to do is figure out an easy way to switch identities in
Outlook (not Outlook Express) whenever I want to email BellSouth.

Thanks again.

thorne

---

Clarification of Answer by clouseau-ga on 11 Sep 2002 11:13 PDT

Hello Thorne,

Thanks for your reply. I had strongly suspected that webstream.net was
being blocked at BellSouth as a known spammer. Good to know this has
now been verified and you have a workaround solution.

And thank you for the kind rating.

Best regards,

-=clouseau-ga=-

See "Clarification" for comments.  Well done.