On Sun, 6 Apr 1997 18:32:39 -0500 (CDT), David wrote, and I quote:
[. . .]
Disclaimer: No flames. :-)
Although my scripting is a bit different from wotan's and Tim's, the end
result is the same. I have been reverse filtering all E-mail to my account
for about three months now. Primary reason is massive incoming UCE caused by
another's deliberate and malicious posting of my (and others) E-mail address
to known UCE sites such as alt.business.multi-level.
So now, I too, bounce all mail, except that which meets limited criteria. I
have available a Subject filter bypass word and an X-Loop to /dev/null. Yes, I
have experienced bouncing _wanted_ E-mail for exactly the reason you
suggested, that is, forgetting to alter the rc. for the allowable criteria. It
goes with the territory.
:
:And that's my objection to Wotan's setup: the absolute I-have-prepared-for-
:all-possibilities-and-can-never-be-wrong immutable finality of its decisions.
I understand what you are saying, but also being the target of unrelenting
spam, I understand wotan's position also, which IMO is a personal decision to
select the lesser of two unsavory choices born out of necessity. Sure, care
must be exercised with the set up and others who would make the same decision
should be sure they know the likely ramifications for their individual
situation.
Having been inundated with UCE, I am reluctant to include my filter bypass
word with each and every bounce. Not being familiar with the specifics, if I
had some reassurance that spammers (not the bots) would not manually cull it
and use it to get through I would gladly place the bypass word in my bounced
Subject message for the convenience of the sender.
:
:Either of their arrangements is a recipe for embarrassment: how easily can
:one of them write to someone, asking a question, and then reject the reply
:because he forgot to add the person he asked to his permitted senders list?
:(If Tim doesn't add the person to his permitted senders list, he has a second
:chance when he writes, because he can tell the other person how to get past
:his rejector.)
No embarrassment, no problem. It's happened to me several times. My recourse
is to log full headers of bounced mail only. When the odd one that _should_
have been passed is bounced, I rectify the error and mail the sender
explaining the situation, requesting a re-send. This has worked very
effectively for both individuals and legitimate companies trying to reach me.
No one has complained. Unfortunately this is the only way I can get out from
under the massive influx of daily UCE and regain control over my inbox. And
once again it represents a personal choice in consideration of a particular
situation.
As has been said before by others, no offense intended. Just my .02 :-)
--
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Ty
"Give Laughter: Safe. Effective. Free." Tudor Williams (1941 - )