On Fri, 12 Dec 2003, "Ted" == Ted Gervais wrote:
Ted> It would refuse certain mail that i had set up inside
Ted> Sendmail such that I never saw it. It simply refused to
Ted> accept it from my provider. That is what I was hoping to
Ted> do with fetchmail/procmail etc..
Ted> Still trying to learn this new(er) process to me, so bear
Ted> with my while I struggle over here in the corner.
No problem. I can't claim to be a complete expert or anything.
The thing you maybe don't know is that the mail transfer agents
(MTAs) like sendmail and postfix in the Internet attempt to not
lose email. So if you "refuse" it a notification is sent back to
the sender letting them know the email didn't get through.
Spammers do one of two things for sender. They either use a
made up invalid address or they use a random address from their
database of email addresses.
So by refusing email you don't recognize you're causing more,
probably useless, traffic.
The best thing to do with spam is to delete it.
I recommend you look into the SpamAssassin program or one of the
other "Bayesian" filters. These learn what YOU think is spam
over time. They're very effective even though the spammers are
doing all sorts of interesting tricks to slip past 'em. Hit
google up for "bayesian email filter" and you'll probably get a
good selection. SpamAssassin is at www.spamassassin.org
--Hal