procmail
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Re: Procmail & unsolicited(unwanted) email

1996-05-26 15:28:48
On Sun, 26 May 96 18:12 JST, you wrote:

In the recent past I have had correspondence with the postmasters of
both Netcom and Interramp.  They were responsive to the problem.  This
time, I got the same mailing that Debra did (I suspect), from an
Interramp account via a Netcom PPP address; my mail to Interramp
bounced---I suspect that everybody who got the spam responded and
Interramp crashed.  If so, I imagine Interramp will convert to the
true religion quickly....  Netcom responded promptly and courteously.

The same thing happened to me with Interramp.  I hope that Interramp
will get a clue, and really respond.

   >> According to all of the information that I have gathered, this
   >> seems to be a common example of a recipe (?) to use:
   >> 
   >> :1 ^From.*interramp.com /dev/nul

   Stan> More likely, :0 ^From.*interramp.com /dev/null

This is a more or less reasonable response.  Unfortunately for me, I
have had direct correspondence with real users at every single one of
the sites mentioned in otmar's recipe.  Poor me!  I can't get out that 
way....

That just it...  I do not really want to lock out ALL users at this
site, or any other site, if they are legit...

What do I recommend?  Well, it may not be optimal for you if your
storage is extremely limited, or you pay a lot for download time.  But
I just dump mail not attached to a known address or my local domain
and lacking certain keywords related to my public activities in the
subject to a junk-mail file, and read it twice a week.  If I can't
identify spam in one screenful and under ten seconds, then it's not
spam, it's art :-)  Two minutes a week max, and that file rarely gets
over 10kB.  Even so, it's 80% stuff I want to see.  (Which kills the
limited storage and download costs arguments, for my case, even if I
had such restrictions.)

Sounds reasonable to me.  I do have the disk space (currently).

The important thing is that I'm primed for spam; it doesn't take me by
surprise.  I find that's the most important thing; I don't waste
emotional energy on anger and frustration.  I suspect that what otmar
likes best about his recipe is the "GET LOST" line---or maybe the "get
another provider" line....  I've had a lot less need for that kind of
satisfaction recently.  Spending an extra 30 seconds twice a week to
delete a spam is much less wasteful than spending 30 minutes writing
to postmasters and thinking about implementing a firewall....

I guess that you DO have a point here.  If I spend a lot of time
writing to postmasters and other addresses at these sites, then I will
be giving these fools a lot more satisfaction than they deserve.
Also, I suppose that this type of foolishness comes with the territory
when one posts to Usenet (as I do).  At least, that is what I have
been told, since anyone can practically find your email address from
newsgroup postings via Deja News.  

Perhaps, I will just watch and see how this situation goes, and just
do as I have been doing (save all messages, both incoming and
outgoing).  I don't get a lot of unsolicited email, but, this past
week, I HAVE.

We shall see...

Debra Walker

Debra Walker         debraw(_at_)wwa(_dot_)com (preferred)     
dwalker433(_at_)aol(_dot_)com
Chicago, IL          debra(_dot_)walker(_at_)aquila(_dot_)com