MacSOUP

Nick Naym · May 3, 2012

Of late, any attempt to get to newsgroups via MacSOUP fails: It times out with the message "Could not open connection to SMTP server on host 'smtp.gmail.com'." Prior to connecting, Little Snitch asks for permission, with "Only port 25 TCP (smtp)" selected by default. Selecting any of the other choices — "Any Connection," "Only smtp.gmail.com," and "Only smtp.gmail.com and port 25 TCP (smtp)" — doesn't help.

I checked my MacSOUP Settings, and they appear to be the same as I've always been using. I couldn't find any help in the MacSOUP Manual (though, admittedly, I've always found the Manual a bit difficult to understand).

Any suggestions?

Kaveman · May 3, 2012

'smtp.gmail.com'

my guess would be Google has tighten up use of there smtp server.

Is MacSOUP from Google?

Nick Naym · May 3, 2012

Kaveman said:
my guess would be Google has tighten up use of there smtp server.

That seems odd/unlikely, as I had no problem logging on 5 minutes earlier. I quit, to take care of something, and returned to find that I couldn't connect.

Is MacSOUP from Google?

No...it's an old...very old...offline newsreader that went for years without being updated. It still smacks of its OS9-like heritage, but boasts a unique — and IMO (as well as many others) superior — graphical presentation of posts.

FWIW, you can read about it at MacUpdate (http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/1011/macsoup) and at Mac Orchard (http://www.macorchard.com/usenet/MacSOUP.php).

Kaveman · May 3, 2012

as I had no problem logging on 5 minutes earlier

thats the internet for you.

And yes, Google and many other ISP are constantly tightening there Mail services. It mat not be the case but it is the most likely.

If you have a gmail account in Mail, check and see if your gmail account is able to see smtp.gmail.com.

Nick Naym · May 3, 2012

Kaveman said:
thats the internet for you.

And yes, Google and many other ISP are constantly tightening there Mail services. It mat not be the case but it is the most likely.

If you have a gmail account in Mail, check and see if your gmail account is able to see smtp.gmail.com.

I'm not sure what you mean by "see" smtp.gmail.com. However, I have linked my gMail account to my pop mail client (Mail.app) so that I can send and receive gMail messages without having to open a browser and log into gMail, and have the account in Mail set to "pop.gmail.com" for the "Incoming Mail Server" and "smtp.gmail.com" for the "Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP)." Although I've noticed occasional slowdowns, I've never received an error message nor experienced anything approaching a timeout

.

Kaveman · May 3, 2012

Under the Window Menu there is connection doctor, this will show if Mail can get a connection to smtp.gmail.com, if it can then the problem is not with your Mac.

Nick Naym · May 3, 2012

Kaveman said:
Under the Window Menu there is connection doctor, this will show if Mail can get a connection to smtp.gmail.com, if it can then the problem is not with your Mac.

Weird. Even though I've not had a problem sending/receiving, Connection Doctor indicated that particular account was offline. However, I simply told Mail to bring all accounts online; Connection Doctor then verified that they were, but MacSOUP still timed out.

.

Kaveman · May 3, 2012

If Mail is connecting to smtp but MacSOUP isn't then you need to talk to MacSOUP or Google, not a lot more we can do.