Yes I beleive you are right, in most cases it will be the best solution to send an 
email with the password. Actually my initial discussion was not based on checking if 
the email exists or not, but it became a topic. I just wanted to correct myself.

PS. If you would do it via telnet it would be better to do it the following way;
telnet to host on port 25
HELO [domain name]
MAIL FROM [email address]

Which would return
220 www.safe-mail.net ESMTP Exim 3.22 #1 Tue, 21 Jan 2003 18:40:39 -0500
250 www.safe-mail.net Hello host [x.x.x.x]
MAIL FROM: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
250 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> is syntactically correct


> Yes, and you can use nslookup or similar to find the MX record for the
> domain (which is a special type of DNS record listing the mail servers for
> a domain). Then you could telnet to each listed mail server. But I think
> that if something goes wrong and you get complaints from your users, you
> would have a rather tough time figuring out where your verification
> procedure went wrong.
> 
> The method of emailing people a random password or token and requiring them
> to enter it is IMHO a much safer way of verifying not only the validity of
> an email address, but that the person signing up actually has access to it.
> 
> Also the 'resolve host and then telnet' approach feels a bit like shooting
> mozzies with anti-aircraft artillery...
> 
> Viktor Radnai
> Web Developer, National E-Commerce, Ernst & Young
> Direct:  +61 2 9248 4361
> 
> 
> 
>                                                                                      
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>                     "Taco Fleur"                                                     
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>                     [EMAIL PROTECTED]        Subject:     [cfaussie] 
>RE: RegEx for email checking                      
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>                     22/01/2003 10:19 AM                                              
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> 
> I just wanted to comment on my own message, regarding the checking of
> email for existence..
> 
> I just remembered that it is possible to perform a session via telnet to
> the mailserver checking if it will accept any messages to the email in
> question.
> 
> 
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