Spam Filter

[Barry L. Kline]

On Wednesday 25 February 2004 05:33 pm, Craig Daters wrote:
> http://www.paganini.net/ask - Active Spam Killer. I added this as a
> final catch all for spam that does end up getting through (though
> this is rare) to the user. This is a challenge/respond system where
> senders that are not already on a whitelist must 'validate' simply by
> replying to a confirmation message. Works much like a mail list does,
> and end users can configure/manage everything through email once it
> is setup.

You were doing fine up to this point.  This step, however, can cause more 
trouble than its worth.  If a user signs up for a mailing list which requires 
a confirmation e-mail (your challenge/response) then the server will get an 
email from the user requesting confirmation the it sent the email.  Normally, 
this gets sent to the bit bucket and the user goes along without knowledge 
that there's a problem.

I have a site which does the confirmation thing.  I set it up so that odd-ball 
email is sent to me.  Frankly, I refuse to reply to the challenges.  I have 
enough to do without this added step.  If the user sends me email asking why 
s/he can't create an account or join my lists I will tell them (and reply to 
the irritating challenge so that my note gets through) but I will not set up 
my server to do it.

Just my two cents.

Barry