Why were you referred to MAPS?
Many people find this website after they receive a bounced email telling them that their mail was rejected and to please visit the MAPS website at http://www.mail-abuse.com/. If you received an email referring you to MAPS, it is most likely because the IP address used by your mail server is included on one of our lists. We maintain several lists of sources of spam, as well as sources that should not be sending legitimate email (i.e. open relays and dial-up IP addresses).

If you are an ISP or access provider and feel your IP addresses should not be included in one of our lists, please see our Remove Request section.

Why is MAPS rejecting my email?
We do not control the traffic on anyone else's servers; therefore, we are not the ones rejecting your email. We simply provide a categorical list of IP addresses, which other networks may choose to use to filter traffic on their network. MAPS never touches any email (or other packets) between your network and someone else's network.

Please understand that we have not singled you out. All of MAPS' lists are based on IP addresses only, not domain names, email addresses, URLs, message contents, or any other information. Also, our lists do not distinguish between domain names. Networks use our lists to identify and reject mail from listed IP addresses.

What can I do to prevent my email from bouncing?
We know that, as a user of the Internet, email and other connectivity is important to you. We also know that unsolicited bulk email is bad. We encourage you to ask your ISP to fix the problem that has resulted in your mail bouncing or whatever other effects from a MAPS listing you may be experiencing. This is in the best interest of all parties on the Internet (except the person sending the unsolicited email).

The first step in fixing the problem is to determine which of our lists your IP address is on. Please use this simple lookup form to identify the list(s). If an IP address is on any of our lists, the form will tell you which list the IP address is on and where to find further information. If the form cannot find the IP address, then it is not in any MAPS list. You may have received an erroneous message telling you to check the MAPS site.

If you are unsure of the IP address to look up, please check the bounced mail message and headers for a line that looks similar to this:

550 Mail from 127.0.0.2 refused by rbl-plus.mail-abuse.org.  
Please refer to http://mail-abuse.org/rbl+ for an explanation

The IP address you would want to check, in this case, is 127.0.0.2

The next step, if your IP address is on one of MAPS' lists, is to contact your ISP. When you contact your ISP, they will need a copy of the bounce message that you received or other evidence of the problem. Please be sure to include the IP address that was rejected. Let them know which list it is on, the URL of that list, and the URL of the lookup form. Finally, let the system administrator know how to contact us. We are always pleased to speak to a system administrator about resolving a listing. Listings can be removed within minutes once the removal is requested and the issue is resolved.

For more specific information about the list your IP address is on:

	Detailed End User Information for MAPS RBLSM (Realtime Blackhole List) Listings
	Detailed End User Information for MAPS DUL® (Dynamic User List) Listings
	Detailed End User Information for MAPS RSS® (Relay Spam Stopper) Listings
	Detailed End User Information for MAPS OPSSM (Open Proxy Stopper) Listings
	Detailed End User Information for MAPS QILSM (Non-confirmed Mail List) Listings