What is Debouncer?
What are reputation lists?
Is your data consolidation service legitimate?
Why I must monitor mail server’s IP address and domain name against reputation lists?
How I will know that my server is listed?
Why my server is listed?
How to improve the reputation?
Do you offer reputation list removal services?
Do you offer reputation list circumvention services?
How do I know that my server was removed from a reputation list?
How do I start monitoring Microsoft SNDS?
What are SNDS traps? Why should I monitor them? How to identify the traps I am hit?
Debouncer pricing
What locations do you monitor email servers from?
How do I start?

What is Debouncer?

Debouncer is a service provided by Smart Answer Inc, a corporation headquartered in Charlotte, NC. The service has been operating for over 10 years, providing trusted server monitoring and reputation management solutions. Major Internet Service Providers (ISPs) rely on Debouncer to continuously monitor the health of their server inventory, ensuring the reliability and integrity of their networks.

Debouncer constantly checks the IP addresses and domain names of your email servers against an extensive database of reputation lists. If your server is added to a list, Debouncer promptly notifies you and provides a direct link to the relevant website for further action.

Beyond reputation monitoring, Debouncer offers a suite of tools to safeguard your email infrastructure, including mail server uptime monitoring, domain name resolution checks, IP address reverse DNS monitoring, and reverse DNS testing. Our service is designed to help you detect potential issues early, protect your network's reputation, and ensure that your email traffic remains uninterrupted and successfully delivered.

With a proven track record and a decade of industry expertise, Debouncer is trusted by leading ISPs and organizations to maintain the health and performance of their server ecosystems.

What are reputation lists?

A Reputation Block List (RBL), also known as a DNS-based Block List (DBSBL), is a list of IP addresses or domain names that is published through the Internet Domain Name Service (DNS). RBLs serve as a third-party reputation monitoring service, helping identify servers that may be involved in activities that could impact their email deliverability or network trustworthiness. The metrics analyzed by these reputation monitoring services allow for early detection of potential server issues or abuse, helping to mitigate problems before they escalate. Also, most mail server applications can be configured to reference these lists in order to make informed decisions about accepting or flagging messages that originate from servers with questionable reputations.

Is your data consolidation service legitimate?

Yes, our service is fully compliant with all intellectual property and data usage requirements. We maintain agreements with all list providers who require licensing agreements and/or paid subscriptions. For providers that do not permit data consolidation—such as Microsoft SNDS—we offer a solution where users can input their own API keys, ensuring that all queries are conducted in accordance with their direct licensing agreements. Our strict adherence to these protocols guarantees the legitimacy of our service.

Why I must monitor mail server’s IP address and domain name against listing?

Your outgoing email messages may be filtered out by email servers that consult the reputation list you are included in. Your message may bounce:

554 Blocked - see http://www.spamcop.net/bl.shtml?1.2.3.4 (in reply to RCPT TO command)

Administrator of mail server may configure any rejection message, even like this:

550 user unknown

In the worst case your email may be silently deleted or marked as junk mail and delivered to (lost in) recipient's junk mail folder. If it happens, you even will not know your message was not delivered.

There is no way to know which reputation list are consulted by recipient's mail server. This is why it is very important to check as many reputation lists as possible. You may stay assured that Debouncer actively maintains and updates its reputation list database.

How I will know that my server is listed?

As soon as you submitted you IP address and domain, Debouncer starts active monitoring. Debouncer will send you email alert if any changes (new inclusions or removals) were detected. You may also request daily or weekly status reports.

Why my server is listed?

There is a variety of reputation lists, and each one uses its own policies of inclusion and removal. Most often the reason for inclusion is unsolicited email message(s) originated from your server. It is not necessary for the message to be unsolicited, as it may be erroneously (or intentionally) reported as unsolicited email by a recipient or unwanted email detection software. Incorrect mail server settings, missing reverse DNS record, dynamic IP address - any of the above may result in poor reputation. Often your IP address may be member of filtered IP range. Debouncer will direct you to the reputation list web server, where you may find information regarding inclusion and removal policy.

How to improve the reputation

First you must resolve the original issue - remove malicious software, deactivate abusive account, configure mail server properly etc. Some reputation lists will detect the change and remove your IP address from database automatically. In some cases you may be required to apply for delisting using the procedure described on a reputaion list maintainer web site. Debouncer will direct you to proper section of reputation list web site.

Do you offer reputation list removal services?

No, Debouncer does not maintain any reputation list and may not remove your address.

Do you offer reputation list circumvention services?

No, Debouncer does not offer any circumvention services. We strongly advise to resolve the issues that resulted in poor reputation. While many reputaion list technologies are pretty controversial, being compliant with whatever the reputaion policies consider a good practice will improve your outgoing email delivery and secure your mail server.
We do not fight email reputaion lists. We help to leverage their usefulness by providing the missing link: feedback to postmaster.

How do I know that my server was removed from a reputation list?

You will receive an email alert. Debouncer sends email notifications on both inclusions and removals.

How do I start monitoring SNDSdata?

• Request SNDS data access for your IPs
• Respond to the authorization email and confirm IP address or range ownership
• Enable automated access
• Provide us with your SNDS access key.

What are SNDS traps? Why should I monitor them? How to identify the traps I am hit?

Please read Identifying and Removing SNDS Traps by Martin Caine

What locations do you monitor email servers from?

We monitor server uptime from multiple locations. You can chose region to monitor from and number of failures before sending an alert.

American Region

• Los Angeles, California, USA - 168.235.93.28 / 2604:180:f4::4
• New York, New York, USA - 107.191.96.156 / 2604:180:2:33e:1:1:1:15
• Dallas, Texas, USA - 108.181.220.147 / 2604:6600:2003:8b::a
• Chicago, Illinois, USA - 134.195.89.199 / 2605:4840:3:a46a::1

European Region

• Amsterdam, Netherlands - 185.45.113.72 / 2a02:e00:fff0:161::a
• Frankfurt, Germany - 172.105.95.254 / 2a01:7e01:e001:1b3:1:1:1:7
• London, UK - 185.177.148.100 / 2a02:e00:ffe9:62::a
• Stockholm, Sweden - 153.92.126.125 / 2a0e:dc0:2:4c67::1

Asia-Pacific Region

• Singapore - 185.223.207.30 / 2406:ef80:0002:71c8:0:0:0:1
• Sydney, Australia - 27.100.36.94 / 2402:9e80:1::1:faea
• Tokyo, Japan - 139.162.106.244 / 2400:8902::f03c:91ff:fe1c:5e01

Worldwide

• Los Angeles, California, USA - 168.235.93.28 / 2604:180:f4::4
• New York, New York, USA - 107.191.96.156 / 2604:180:2:33e:1:1:1:15
• Singapore - 185.223.207.30 / 2406:ef80:0002:71c8:0:0:0:1
• Frankfurt, Germany - 172.105.95.254 / 2a01:7e01:e001:1b3:1:1:1:7

How do I start?

Subscribe here.