Droitwich u3a uses the Beacon System not just as a membership database, but also as a means for sending bulk emails to all members and for communicating with interest group members.

Recently, the big email providers (Gmail, Hotmail, btinternet, Outlook, Virgin/BlueYonder, TalkTalk, Yahoo, etc) have tightening-up on what they perceive as being incoming spam and are increasingly using AI tools to identify spam. If detected, they "note" who the sender of said spam is and add the sender's address to a list of senders with "poor reputation". What they each do with the "offending" incoming email varies from one provider to another. Some (Hotmail, in particular) simply blackhole the email and provide no response back to the sender. Google (Gmail) is usually better at sending a sensible response. Particularly, large senders of emails - like Beacon's emailer SendGrid, which is used by about 600 UK u3as - are often recognised by email providers as being the source of potential spam, and as a result the emails send via Beacon sometimes do not get through to their intended recipient/member.

There will be times when the "offending" emailer gets removed from providers "poor reputation" list, either as a result of the sending emailer contacting the recipient email provider, or by subsequent incoming emails being accepted by their AI systems.

If you suspect that our Beacon emails are not getting to you (either because you haven't had any emails recently from Droitwich u3a, or because you are aware of other u3a members who have received emails that you haven't), there are a number of things that you can do about it ….

1. Check your "Junk folder" (if you have one)
Sometimes the email provider puts suspected spam email there instead of in your InBox - so this is where your missing emails might be.

2. Check your "Spam folder" (if you have one)
Sometimes the email provider puts suspected spam email there instead of in your InBox - so again this is where your missing emails might be.

3. Update your "Blocked senders list" (if you have one)
Search in your "Blocked senders list" for "u3abeacon.org.uk" (without the quotes) and delete all the entries found. If Beacon remains in your "Blocked senders list" your email provider's spam filter will automatically remove emails sent via Beacon, and they will not get through to your InBox.

4. Update your "Address book" or "Safe senders list"
Add the full beacon email address "noreply@u3abeacon.org.uk" (without the quotes) or the domain name "u3abeacon.org.uk" (without the quotes) to your "Address book" or "Safe senders list". If the email senders address is one you are expecting to receive, your email provider's spam filter is less likely remove those emails.