Why IPs typically get listed
Email harvesting is the classic trigger: a bot scrapes a trap address.
Comment spam bots that submit to hidden form fields also get flagged.
Dictionary attackers probing login pages with guessed credentials show up too.
Shared hosting is a common cause of false positives for legitimate admins.
One compromised account or malware-infected server on a shared IP can taint the whole block.
If you run a server, outbound scraping scripts or scanning tools can trigger this.
A misconfigured crawler that ignores robots.txt can also land you on the list.
How to check if you're listed
Project Honey Pot's own site shows an IP's listing status when you look it up.
You generally need to be browsing from the flagged IP to see its full listing page.
Third-party multi-blacklist checkers that include http:BL in their lookup list are another option.
Because http:BL uses an access-key based query format, some generic DNSBL tools may not query it correctly.
A checker built specifically for http:BL, or Project Honey Pot's own tools, gives the most reliable answer.
How to get removed
Start by browsing to Project Honey Pot's whitelist page from the affected IP.
You cannot submit a whitelist request for an IP you aren't currently using.
The page lets you whitelist that single IP or its entire /24 range.
Whitelisting the /24 is useful on shared hosting where neighbors caused the flag.
Submit the request and expect a short delay before it's accepted.
Project Honey Pot's own instructions describe an initial five-second delay on submission.
After that, allow time for the whitelist to propagate across their system.
If this IP was whitelisted and then re-listed before, expect a longer wait.
Whitelisting stops new blocking, but it does not erase the past record.
Project Honey Pot has stated there's no one-click way to purge a listing entirely.
Before you resubmit, fix whatever caused the flag in the first place.
Close open proxies, patch scraping scripts, and secure any shared accounts on that IP.
How long it typically takes
Project Honey Pot's own documentation points to roughly an hour for propagation.
That applies after a clean, first-time whitelist request from the correct IP.
Repeat offenders face a longer propagation delay by design.
There's no published fixed timeline beyond that general guidance.
Plan around an hour, but don't be surprised if a repeat case takes longer.
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FAQ
How do I check my IP against Project Honey Pot's blacklist?
Browse to Project Honey Pot's site from the IP you want to check. Its listing pages show whether that IP has been flagged and why. You can also use a multi-blacklist checker that specifically supports the http:BL zone. Generic DNSBL tools sometimes fail here because http:BL needs an access key to query.
How do I remove my IP from Project Honey Pot?
You request whitelisting from the flagged IP itself, not removal from the database. Visit the operator's whitelist page while browsing from that IP. You can whitelist the single address or the whole /24 block. This stops future flagging even though the historical record stays logged.
Does whitelisting delete my listing history?
No, whitelisting does not erase past entries from Project Honey Pot's records. It only tells the system to stop scoring that IP going forward. Project Honey Pot has said publicly that there's no button to wipe a listing outright. Fixing the underlying cause is still the right move before you request whitelisting.
Why did my mail server IP get flagged if it doesn't crawl the web?
Http:BL mainly tracks scraping, harvesting, and comment spam, not outbound email. A flagged mail server IP usually shares infrastructure with something doing one of those things. Shared hosting, infected malware, or an old scraping script are common culprits. Check everything running on that IP, not just your mail queue.
Is Project Honey Pot the same kind of blacklist as Spamhaus?
Not quite. Spamhaus and similar lists are built mainly to protect inboxes from spam. Project Honey Pot's http:BL is built to protect websites from bots, scrapers, and spam forms. Both use DNS-based lookups, but the traffic they're meant to stop is different.
