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This is know as Challenge-Response and ... it doesn’t work. What happens when an automated system sends you a message? How do you handle the backscatter problem

by ttul 8y ago

This is know as Challenge-Response and ... it doesn’t work. What happens when an automated system sends you a message? How do you handle the backscatter problem (ie when spammers spoof the sender address causing your helpful challenge messages to be sent to someone random who then complains..). Laudable effort, but it’s not a solution.

BeetleB 8y ago
Hard to say something is not a solution when it's been working for over a year. >What happens when an automated system sends you a message? I'm not sure I see the problem. I don't want automated emails in my Inbox. Period. For the few ones that you'd think I want (e.g. overdue notices), they are in my "other" list - those that don't go into either my inbox or my quarantine - so they don't get an autoresponse email. But frankly, there are very few automated emails that I want. As an example, I've set up Zillow alerts that tell me if a house in my neighborhood is on sale, or has been sold. In one sense, I do want these emails, but I simply don't want them in my inbox. They remain quarantined, and I'll see them whenever I check my quarantine pile. Most of the sites I intentionally signed up for because they occasionally will send me something useful - they all still go to my quarantine pile. I don't need them in my inbox intermingling with more important emails. >How do you handle the backscatter problem (ie when spammers spoof the sender address causing your helpful challenge messages to be sent to someone random who then complains..). If the spoofed email is in my whitelist, they don't get an email. If not, what exactly is the problem? That some random stranger got an email from me? That's just spam for them - I doubt they'll even notice. At best, they may realize someone is using their email address as a From in a spam email. At least in the 1+ year of running this, none of these has been problems.
- deleted 8y ago
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- rakoo 8y ago
  Funnily you've kinda inverted the mailboxes purpose: your real inbox is called "quarantine", and your actual emails are in your "inbox". Sounds like you could use inbox as inbox and then "archive" when it passes validation. Anyway if it works for you _and_ is simple to put in place and use (as you've shown), then kudos to you!

by ttul 8y ago

BeetleB 8y ago

Hard to say something is not a solution when it's been working for over a year. >What happens when an automated system sends you a message? I'm not sure I see the problem. I don't want automated emails in my Inbox. Period. For the few ones that you'd think I want (e.g. overdue notices), they are in my "other" list - those that don't go into either my inbox or my quarantine - so they don't get an autoresponse email. But frankly, there are very few automated emails that I want. As an example, I've set up Zillow alerts that tell me if a house in my neighborhood is on sale, or has been sold. In one sense, I do want these emails, but I simply don't want them in my inbox. They remain quarantined, and I'll see them whenever I check my quarantine pile. Most of the sites I intentionally signed up for because they occasionally will send me something useful - they all still go to my quarantine pile. I don't need them in my inbox intermingling with more important emails. >How do you handle the backscatter problem (ie when spammers spoof the sender address causing your helpful challenge messages to be sent to someone random who then complains..). If the spoofed email is in my whitelist, they don't get an email. If not, what exactly is the problem? That some random stranger got an email from me? That's just spam for them - I doubt they'll even notice. At best, they may realize someone is using their email address as a From in a spam email. At least in the 1+ year of running this, none of these has been problems.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
rakoo 8y ago
Funnily you've kinda inverted the mailboxes purpose: your real inbox is called "quarantine", and your actual emails are in your "inbox". Sounds like you could use inbox as inbox and then "archive" when it passes validation. Anyway if it works for you _and_ is simple to put in place and use (as you've shown), then kudos to you!