SMF forums problem

[chris_b]

I installed SMF forums using Fanstastico via the control panel.

It all works OK except when a user registers the confirmation email is from:

[username]@box[nn].bluehost.com

which is also listed as a "Return-path:" parameter in the message header.

I want it to be from something like:forums@mydomain.com

additionaly there's an X-Identified-User: parameter in the message source with the value:
{795:box[nn].bluehost.com:[username]:[mydomain]} {sentby:program running on server}

what's that all about? how do I make it so that "Return-path" and "From" are an email address of my choosing. and how do I suppress the "X-Identified-User" info, because I don't really like that this personal info about my account will be emailed to anyone registering on my forums.

[JoeP]

Have you set up an email addres under the server settings part of smf admin? I think that's where it's done. If that doesn't do the trick, you might try a search of the smf support forum at http://www.simplemachines.org/support/

I have found their community to be very responsive and helpful.
joe

[chris_b]

I've switched to using PunBB which is more to my liking - the same problem occured until I set PunBB to send mail via SMTP using "localhost" as the server which seems to work OK

except there's still the "X-Identified-User:" thing being added to the email header - I tried to find more info about it, but there's not much info out there (check out this Google search (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=X-Identified-User&btnG=Google+Search) )

I guess it's there for some kind of anti-abuse reasons, but I'm still not too keen on it...

[hthite]

Ask SMF to use sendmail instead of SMTP.

You can set up an email account with forums@xxxxxx.com or whatever of your liking, and ask SMF to send mails from there...

If you need exact details, lemme know.

[chris_b]

Ask SMF to use sendmail instead of SMTP.

You can set up an email account with forums@xxxxxx.com or whatever of your liking, and ask SMF to send mails from there...

If you need exact details, lemme know.
That's basically what I did but with PunBB - it works OK except there is still the "X-Identified-User:" thing in the mail headers which contains my bluehost username and the URL of the bluehost server which my domain is hosted on.

[hthite]

As a matter of fact, the mail will contain a lot of stuff in the headers that will tell where it actually came from...

I can spot not only the username, but also the return address pointing to the default mail id... ie. username@boxxx.bluehost.com, and more smtp details, like Received: from unknown (HELO boxxx.bluehost.com) (70.103.189.xx)
by mailproxy1.bluehost.com with SMTP; 26 Feb 2006 14:49:44 -0000
Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1])
by boxxx.bluehost.com with esmtp (Exim 4.52)
id 1FDNDT-0002Cq-Nf
for xxxxxxx@hotmail.com; Sun, 26 Feb 2006 07:49:43 -0700

And that is always going to remain... Or am I missing something?

But for the average user it shouldn't matter, they'd hardly ever go looking at the headers.

[Don Hollway]

I was having the same problems. PHP sendmail continually listed my BlueHost box address in the "from" field, no matter what I put there.

I finally found out through web search that for some reason PHP consults the server for that data.

Do a search for "php.ini" & you'll find file with the standard data. (I think you can even get a standard one from Bluehost.) Search down until you find the line

;sendmail_from =

...and then fill in an e-mail address from your domain.

Load the php.ini file in the same directory as your php mail processor.

I list the "from" mailheader as $mailheader = "From: $name\r\n";

with "name" data supplied by the mail form.

That's worked for me across multiple BlueHost sites.

I'm still working on the X-Identified User thing.

[cmckellar]

I have been struggling with this problem as well. I scoured the web. After no help from tech support, I tried one last thing... actually creating the email account that I was putting in my php.ini file. Once that account 'existed' then the From: address was perfectly correct.

Step 1: change php.ini
Step 2: Verify you actually have an email account with that address
Step 3: Sigh relief

Cheers!

[vaidy]

Hi,

I am facing a similar problem. I recently shifted one of my domains from a different web host to a bluehost account I previously had. Problems galore!

The smf mailing option which worked perfectly fine in the previous host, went kaput. Same username@boxxx.bluehost.com problems!

I downloaded the php.ini file and made the corrections, but I am unsure which directory to put the file in. Someone mentioned a php mail processor directory above. Where is this?

Also, where should I create this email? Can it be any web based email - myname@yahoo.com? For this particular website, I have set up a google aps account. So, mx and cname had to be changed to google co-ordinates. So, though, help@mydomain.org is a valid email id, it is not created with bluehost.

Please, please help! I am going crazy.

[siguie]

I installed SMF and am NOT using the php.ini thing and it works fine for me. The reply address is just the admin email address.

I installed it manually (No Fantastico) and am running SMF 1.1.1 which is presently the latest release.

Just say no to Fantastico.

[BinkyM]

Hi, folks:

In reading through this thread, it appears that folks have solved their problem with their return addresses (me, too). I'm a WordPress user, and the confirmation emails people are getting when they sign up to comment on blog posts also contain the "X-Identified-User" line with waaaaay too much information. Since the domain I'm using is an add-on domain, it also reveals the "parent" domain, which is one I really don't want the blog readers knowing about (the blog is for professionals; the "parent" domain is not. Yikes!).

I wrote to support asking what I can do to suppress that line in the header, whether there's some other method for sending the confirmation messages such that the "X-Identified-User" line won't appear, but I keep getting back messages written by zombies with bad programming, saying "No." I don't believe it; I did a search of my Eudora mailbox, and can find no other email among tens of thousands with that stupid-ass line in it.

BlueHost can't seriously be the ONLY host on the planet revealing my Unix user name, my parent domain name, and even my hardware details that no one gives a crap about, can it? With no way to suppress it? There's ALWAYS a workaround to EVERYTHING! I don't accept "No." That's just retarded and lazy. I'd be super-grateful for a real, live answer from a non-zombie with a working brain.

Oh: if it helps any (and if you wanna see the grody "X-Identified-User" for yourself), the blog is at http://screenplayscience.com/movie-analysis-blog/

[BinkyM]

Well, this is disheartening: in my last message, I'd said "BlueHost can't seriously be the ONLY host on the planet revealing my Unix user name, my parent domain name, and even my hardware details that no one gives a crap about, can it?" It looks as if it *can*: a Google search reveals that of 274 mentions of "X-Identified-User," 253 of them involve BlueHost. The other is some Spanish (Portugues?) host.

BlueHost usta have a very lengthy "Pros" list and a nearly empty "Cons" list. In the past year, it's tipped over sideways, and the snotty, unhelpful support zombie without the brain makes this one a two-fer.

[siguie]

Well I don't use "Wordpress" and I'm not sure what you mean by "X-Identified-User" but all of my forums and other scripts which use confirmation emails don't show anything with "X-Identified-User" so maybe it's a wordpress thing or a config error.

[BinkyM]

siguie:

I'm not sure what you mean by "X-Identified-User"

It's what the thread is about. Someone running SMF forums is seeeing it in his headers, as are several other people. I'm seeing it in my headers running Ikonboard forum software, too, on a different box, though it concerns me much less there.

Why anyone *ever* thought someone's Unix user name EVER showing up in an email header was a good idea, I have no clue!