6 ms·

They told you not to reply (2008)

107 points by ivanche 6y ago

ComputerGuru 6y ago
TBH, I’ve never seen the examples they feature in the article. It’s always donotreply@company.com, not company@donotreply.com but I can definitely see self-professed “web development experts” writing up a script not understanding how bounce receipts and message envelopes work.
- mark-r 6y ago
  I see a lot of emails from "donotreply", but never pay any attention whether it's a user name or domain name. I have no doubt that many of them are domain names. To make it double redundant, the reply-to address should be donotreply@donotreply.company.com.
- cortesoft 6y ago
  This was also from 12 years ago
  - ComputerGuru 6y ago
    I have an archive of an inbox considerably older, if I have the time I’ll run a script against it and see.
bitwize 6y ago
Registering donotreply.com sounds like the kind of shenanigans Chet Faliszek (of Old Man Murray, Portal of Evil, and Portal (video game) fame) would get up to.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
seizethecheese 6y ago
Our company (bottomless, YC W19) actually sends emails from yesreply@bottomless.com. It’s crazy for companies to discourage replies and force customers to find a different channel when the email itself has all relevant context.
- Sebb767 6y ago
  > It’s crazy for companies to discourage replies and force customers to find a different channel when the email itself has all relevant context. From what I've heard this is not about blocking customer input, but instead became standard due to the sheer amount of auto-reply traffic you're getting. If every one of those mails opens a ticket... Get two systems which send mail receipts in a loop for double the fun. A second, minor reason might also be that you need to set up a mail ticketing system. That's no problem for a startup, but things might look different for a big company with established support teams of hundreds of people. The situation might have changed by now, though, as the trend seems to reverse slowly. But as far as I know, these were the reasons on why donotreply@ became so common.
  - seizethecheese 6y ago
    Interesting, we have had virtually no problem with auto-reply traffic. New collaborative email clients make it a lot easier to handle support without ticketing systems. We still are rather small, so it’s possible we will learn ourselves what all these companies already know, hah.
    - paulsutter 6y ago
      Which email client do you use or recommend for this?
      - seizethecheese 6y ago
        We use Front with a custom plugin. Fronts a bit buggy but very useful
    - 6y ago
ultrarunner 6y ago
Off topic: after a long day including a report of some high-level client seeing rendering issues in an old version of Internet Explorer, the fixed-width layout of old news sites seems so simple in comparison. Coming across this article was a breath of… well, certainly not "fresh" air, but it was at least bittersweet. I noticed that my browser window resized instantly, with zero lag, and nothing got hot and no fans spun. All-in-all, it wasn't better— especially when Internet Explorer enters the discussion— but I always appreciate the opportunity to see these "old" news sites. I'm glad that they're archived in their original form, instead of the content being pulled from an old database into a new layout.
- t0astbread 6y ago
  Makes me wonder how news websites archive their articles. Do they snapshot the HTML/CSS/JS, store it for every article and serve it as static sites? Do they have templating systems where they reconstruct the look of the old sites? Or do they just never put old systems out of production? (Which would be scary.)
shantara 6y ago
I miss the time all major news websites had a comment section directly below the main content. It's an interesting parallel to the whole idea of the companies ignoring customer feedback by limiting their communication channels discussed in the article.
- c0nsumer 6y ago
  Did you ever read these comments? There was almost no value added by allowing people to shout into the wind and have it appear on your website. Or worse, it detracted from the quality of original content. News website comment areas are as bad or worse than YouTube comments; places inhabited by trolls and shitposters.
- srtjstjsj 6y ago
  That time is now, isn't it?
mcv 6y ago
Interestingly, donotreply.com is currently for sale. It's a shame, I'd have loved to check out that blog. But it being for sale really surprises me; it doesn't like this would be a very attractive domain name to own for criminals.
- nicky0 6y ago
  > I'd have loved to check out that blog. https://web.archive.org/web/20080202045959/http://www.donotreply.com/ https://web.archive.org/web/20080202045959/http://www.donotr...
fastball 6y ago
IANAL but the bit at the end where he would remove a blog post about you if you donate money to X sounds mildly extortionary.
- srtjstjsj 6y ago
  Prenda Law founder is in jail for doing this.
stewx 6y ago
The owner of "gamil.com" must get so much email. I have mistyped that domain so many times (and corrected myself), but whoever owns that domain has a massive amount of power based solely on all the unintended emails he receives. Imagine all the bank account password resets, confidential information, and personal information that are accidentally sent to "gamil" addresses instead of "gmail". If I were a state-sponsored hacker, I'd be trying to take control of as many typo domains as possible and hoovering up all the mistaken emails and mining them for valuable information.
- EmilioMartinez 6y ago
  gamil.com is such a weird place. Gamil Design appears to be a legitimate business with a crappy site, but you just know how coveted the domain must be by bad actors. Their first entry is "OK you hackers out there – you confounded us for a little while – but gamil is back!".

107 points by ivanche 6y ago

TBH, I’ve never seen the examples they feature in the article. It’s always donotreply@company.com, not company@donotreply.com but I can definitely see self-professed “web development experts” writing up a script not understanding how bounce receipts and message envelopes work.

mark-r 6y ago
I see a lot of emails from "donotreply", but never pay any attention whether it's a user name or domain name. I have no doubt that many of them are domain names. To make it double redundant, the reply-to address should be donotreply@donotreply.company.com.
cortesoft 6y ago
This was also from 12 years ago
- ComputerGuru 6y ago
  I have an archive of an inbox considerably older, if I have the time I’ll run a script against it and see.

bitwize 6y ago

Registering donotreply.com sounds like the kind of shenanigans Chet Faliszek (of Old Man Murray, Portal of Evil, and Portal (video game) fame) would get up to.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

seizethecheese 6y ago

Our company (bottomless, YC W19) actually sends emails from yesreply@bottomless.com. It’s crazy for companies to discourage replies and force customers to find a different channel when the email itself has all relevant context.

Sebb767 6y ago
> It’s crazy for companies to discourage replies and force customers to find a different channel when the email itself has all relevant context. From what I've heard this is not about blocking customer input, but instead became standard due to the sheer amount of auto-reply traffic you're getting. If every one of those mails opens a ticket... Get two systems which send mail receipts in a loop for double the fun. A second, minor reason might also be that you need to set up a mail ticketing system. That's no problem for a startup, but things might look different for a big company with established support teams of hundreds of people. The situation might have changed by now, though, as the trend seems to reverse slowly. But as far as I know, these were the reasons on why donotreply@ became so common.
- seizethecheese 6y ago
  Interesting, we have had virtually no problem with auto-reply traffic. New collaborative email clients make it a lot easier to handle support without ticketing systems. We still are rather small, so it’s possible we will learn ourselves what all these companies already know, hah.
  - paulsutter 6y ago
    Which email client do you use or recommend for this?
    - seizethecheese 6y ago
      We use Front with a custom plugin. Fronts a bit buggy but very useful
  - 6y ago

ultrarunner 6y ago

Off topic: after a long day including a report of some high-level client seeing rendering issues in an old version of Internet Explorer, the fixed-width layout of old news sites seems so simple in comparison. Coming across this article was a breath of… well, certainly not "fresh" air, but it was at least bittersweet. I noticed that my browser window resized instantly, with zero lag, and nothing got hot and no fans spun. All-in-all, it wasn't better— especially when Internet Explorer enters the discussion— but I always appreciate the opportunity to see these "old" news sites. I'm glad that they're archived in their original form, instead of the content being pulled from an old database into a new layout.

t0astbread 6y ago
Makes me wonder how news websites archive their articles. Do they snapshot the HTML/CSS/JS, store it for every article and serve it as static sites? Do they have templating systems where they reconstruct the look of the old sites? Or do they just never put old systems out of production? (Which would be scary.)

shantara 6y ago

I miss the time all major news websites had a comment section directly below the main content. It's an interesting parallel to the whole idea of the companies ignoring customer feedback by limiting their communication channels discussed in the article.

c0nsumer 6y ago
Did you ever read these comments? There was almost no value added by allowing people to shout into the wind and have it appear on your website. Or worse, it detracted from the quality of original content. News website comment areas are as bad or worse than YouTube comments; places inhabited by trolls and shitposters.
srtjstjsj 6y ago
That time is now, isn't it?

mcv 6y ago

Interestingly, donotreply.com is currently for sale. It's a shame, I'd have loved to check out that blog. But it being for sale really surprises me; it doesn't like this would be a very attractive domain name to own for criminals.

nicky0 6y ago
> I'd have loved to check out that blog. https://web.archive.org/web/20080202045959/http://www.donotreply.com/ https://web.archive.org/web/20080202045959/http://www.donotr...

fastball 6y ago

IANAL but the bit at the end where he would remove a blog post about you if you donate money to X sounds mildly extortionary.

srtjstjsj 6y ago
Prenda Law founder is in jail for doing this.

stewx 6y ago

The owner of "gamil.com" must get so much email. I have mistyped that domain so many times (and corrected myself), but whoever owns that domain has a massive amount of power based solely on all the unintended emails he receives. Imagine all the bank account password resets, confidential information, and personal information that are accidentally sent to "gamil" addresses instead of "gmail". If I were a state-sponsored hacker, I'd be trying to take control of as many typo domains as possible and hoovering up all the mistaken emails and mining them for valuable information.

EmilioMartinez 6y ago
gamil.com is such a weird place. Gamil Design appears to be a legitimate business with a crappy site, but you just know how coveted the domain must be by bad actors. Their first entry is "OK you hackers out there – you confounded us for a little while – but gamil is back!".