Why the ballots aren't sent yet.., Report from the Database administrator

[mpf]

When the ballots were sent Sunday morning, all of the ballots to Gmail bounced back.

This was a new to me: the previous day, I had emailed gmail just the previous day from the same server.

In short, Gmail decided to block the IP of the server where the database is hosted, but it appears to be a whole block, so it might not even be just the server, it could be someone with similar IPs spamming Gmail.

The SoS and I made multiple attempts, nothing. And Gmail has no blocked email support, so all we can do is switch processor.

What we need, is a transactional email service. I used a few in my years, but here is the kicker: all of them cost money. And it's paid out of my pocket.

The cheapest, by far, is Amazon SeS, and it's the one I use daily.

So, I created an account, and tested it. It worked!

I requested on Sunday access to the production server. In short, to be able to actually send the emails.

It takes up to 24 hours and with the recent cuts, they do take their 24 hours!

So, I got a reply, and they said they needed me to validate which email actually sends the emails, not just the domain, because it's a new account. I never hear of that. So, I complied. But it starts a new 24 hours.

They replies this morning, at 4h00am, explaining that they reviewed the account and need to confirm it is a club, and not an actual secessionist movement. That Talossa was legal. I explained it was, and hopefully, within 24 hours, it will be active and the ballots will be sent.

If not, a solution is to pick a transactional email company, but they charge MONTHLY, only SES as far as I know, it mostly free.

Most of those which used to offer 5000 emails per month for free, now only offer 500 which isn't enough.

170 citizens, ballot confirmations, voting reminders... and after 500 it's often something liek $20 per month. I don't have $240 per month for a temporary gmail problem.

I don't mind paying for Ses, it might cost me something like $5 year long. It's nothing.

But not $240.

So, as soon as Amazon approves the account, ballots will be sent.

This was impossible to predict. My server has been running for years, and so far, wasn't blocked in Gmail.

[mpf]

Just for confirmation, I just checked outgoing email reports, and nothing explains

[mpf]

The ballots are currently being sent!

Sadly, there are UTF8 encoding issues, at least in mine.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

The ballots are currently being sent!

Sadly, there are UTF8 encoding issues, at least in mine.

That's great news!

[Carlüs Éovart Vilaçafat]

It sounds like you're making some progress! Thanks for your hard work trying to get this resolved!

[Munditenens Tresplet]

They replies this morning, at 4h00am, explaining that they reviewed the account and need to confirm it is a club, and not an actual secessionist movement. That Talossa was legal. I explained it was, and hopefully, within 24 hours, it will be active and the ballots will be sent.

Ah, the old Derivatism vs Peculiarism debate.

[Glüc da Dhi S.H.]

I got my ballot. Many thanks for fixing this!