Lots of bouncing emails mostly for emails @free.fr (French Internet provider)

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AI-generated summary

The discussion revolves around a high rate of bouncing emails, primarily from @free.fr and other French email providers, affecting a Discourse forum migrated to Mailgun. Canapin notes that while their Mailgun setup is correctly configured with SPF and DKIM, many @free.fr emails are flagged as spam, with other providers like @laposte.net returning service refusal errors. RGJ suggests checking email sending logs, while Graham_Anderson recommends verifying SPF/DKIM/DMARC records, referencing a testing tool. Canapin confirms the configuration is correct and speculates that French ISPs may be overly sensitive to incoming emails. Benjamin_D adds that @laposte.net has a reactive abuse team and mentions that many free users’ emails are also flagged by Gmail, suggesting broader issues with how these providers handle email.

1

On a forum I migrated, a lot of users use a @free.fr email.

Free is a major Internet and mobile provider in France.

I wonder why there are so many bouncing emails (and therefore revoked emails of active users :confused:)

There are not only @free.fr emails, but the majority. Other emails are also emails from other French Internet providers.

I use Mailgun. I had no issue before with my other French Discourse, it’s specific to this one.

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Any idea what could trigger this? :person_shrugging:

2

Are you able to check the logs of the party you’re using for email sending? They might reveal the cause.

3

Perhaps you should check that your Mailgun account is properly setup to match your SPF/DKIM/DMARC records.

Here’s a easy tool: https://www.mail-tester.com/

4

My domain on Mailgun is well configured, including SPF & DKIM.

Logs on Mailgun for most @free.fr addresses return “spam detected”; it seems to be a common issue with them.
Other providers have more or less similar reasons. @laposte.net addresses return “service refusé” with an error code that might or might not be related to spam detection.

For some reason, ISP email providers seem to be a bit sensitive regarding the emails they receive… I’ll guess it’s normal and that they’re just maybe… Bad at what they’re doing?

5

cellule.abuse@laposte.net is quite reactive, you would have to use their contact form and answer no at the end:

never heard back from free though (half of the emails from free users are flagged by gmail :roll_eyes: I don’t know how they handle email over there…)