That's funny, in the odd sense. I've seen a few, very few, that were truly blank but wrote them off to misfires by spammers or perhaps the result of some kiddy-script virus. Frankly, I still don't have a better explanation unless there's some mechanism I don't know about to confirm receipt of an email.
Bill > From: Henri Yandell <bayard at generationjava.com> > Reply-To: macgroup at erdos.math.louisville.edu > Date: Sun, 1 Aug 2004 12:39:57 -0400 (EDT) > To: macgroup at erdos.math.louisville.edu > Subject: Re: MacGroup: Fwd: > > > In this case it really is empty. Turns out I lied, my personal account has > been getting them, but SpamAssassin has happily been catching them. > > ------------=_410B9BF5.46402D40------------ > Content-Type: message/rfc822; x-spam-type=original > Content-Description: original message before SpamAssassin > Content-Disposition: inline > Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit > > Return-Path: <rpsne at goldmail.ru> > X-Original-To: henri at yandell.org > Delivered-To: hen at flamefew.net > Received: from 68-189-63-62.ca.charter.com > (68-189-63-62.ca.charter.com [68.189.63.62]) > by orinoco.flamefew.net (Postfix on Linux (i386)) with SMTP id 3D9963D116 > for <henri at yandell.org>; Sat, 31 Jul 2004 09:17:41 -0400 (EDT) > X-Message-Info: H[1 > Message-Id: <20040731131741.3D9963D116 at orinoco.flamefew.net> > Date: Sat, 31 Jul 2004 09:17:41 -0400 (EDT) > From: rpsne at goldmail.ru > To: undisclosed-recipients:; > > > ------------=_410B9BF5.46402D40-------------- > > Very bizarre. Possibly it's just checking to see if the email address > accepts the email, and therefore probably exists. Much the same as Bill's > HREF below, but not tied to a mail client that is showing images. However, > many mail servers DROP rather than REJECT, so it's only useful if the mail > server is rejecting fred at yandell.org but allow hen at yandell.org. (Must > check if mine is dropping). > > Hen > > On Sat, 31 Jul 2004, Bill Holt wrote: > >> You might want to look at the source code. Spammers will sometimes send >> lots of seemingly blank messages, but instead of being truly blank, they'll >> contain an html code snipit that one would normally expect to display a >> graphic. >> >> For example, it might read: >> >> HREF="http://www.spammersdomain.com/D845TF5O0.jpg"; >> >> which is actually a link to nothing. However, when your email program >> attempts to fetch and render the picture that's expected, the spammer's >> server log records an error and the name of the file that was sought. The >> reason the spammer does this is that he's assigned a unique code to each >> email address in his list (in the above that name is "D845TF5O0") so that >> when your email program attempts to render the non-existent image, he >> receives positive confirmation that your email address is valid and active. >> Then, of course, he sells your address along with the others that he's >> tested as a list of confirmed addresses to other spammers. >> >> That's one reason that spam control at the isp level is more effective than >> spam control on your computer ... it often prevents these address >> validations. >> >> Bill Holt >> >>> From: "George H. Yankey" <jeffco13 at bellsouth.net> >>> Reply-To: macgroup at erdos.math.louisville.edu >>> Date: Sat, 31 Jul 2004 13:59:53 -0400 >>> To: macgroup at erdos.math.louisville.edu >>> Subject: Re: MacGroup: Fwd: >>> >>> Hen, That is what happens to me also. No sender and no address. >>> George >>> On Saturday, July 31, 2004, at 01:02 PM, Henri Yandell wrote: >>> >>>> >>>> I've received a few of these at work, though oddly not on my noisier >>>> spampot of a personal email. >>>> >>>> They appear to be completely empty to MS Outlook, no subject, no sender >>>> etc. >>>> >>>> Hen >>>> >>>> On Sat, 31 Jul 2004, Mike Watkins wrote: >>>> >>>>> George, >>>>> What Message? This is all I got in your E-mail. >>>>> Mike >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> On Saturday, July 31, 2004, at 08:19 AM, George H. Yankey wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> I keep getting the following message in my E-mail. What does it >>>>>> mean? Why does it show up two or three times a week? >>>>>> >>>>>> George Yankey >>>>>> >>>>>> Begin forwarded message: >>>>>> >>>>>>> Date: Sat Jul 31, 2004 7:15:10 AM US/Eastern >>>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> | The next meeting of the Louisville Computer Society will >>>>>> | be July 27. The LCS Web page is <http://www.kymac.org>. >>>>>> | List posting address: <mailto:macgroup at erdos.math.louisville.edu> >>>>>> | List Web page: <http://erdos.math.louisville.edu/macgroup> >>>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> | The next meeting of the Louisville Computer Society will >>>>> | be July 27. The LCS Web page is <http://www.kymac.org>. >>>>> | List posting address: <mailto:macgroup at erdos.math.louisville.edu> >>>>> | List Web page: <http://erdos.math.louisville.edu/macgroup> >>>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> | The next meeting of the Louisville Computer Society will >>>> | be July 27. The LCS Web page is <http://www.kymac.org>. >>>> | List posting address: <mailto:macgroup at erdos.math.louisville.edu> >>>> | List Web page: <http://erdos.math.louisville.edu/macgroup> >>>> >>> >>> >>> >>> | The next meeting of the Louisville Computer Society will >>> | be July 27. The LCS Web page is <http://www.kymac.org>. >>> | List posting address: <mailto:macgroup at erdos.math.louisville.edu> >>> | List Web page: <http://erdos.math.louisville.edu/macgroup> >>> >> >> >> >> | The next meeting of the Louisville Computer Society will >> | be July 27. The LCS Web page is <http://www.kymac.org>. >> | List posting address: <mailto:macgroup at erdos.math.louisville.edu> >> | List Web page: <http://erdos.math.louisville.edu/macgroup> >> > > > > | The next meeting of the Louisville Computer Society will > | be July 27. The LCS Web page is <http://www.kymac.org>. > | List posting address: <mailto:macgroup at erdos.math.louisville.edu> > | List Web page: <http://erdos.math.louisville.edu/macgroup> > | The next meeting of the Louisville Computer Society will | be July 27. The LCS Web page is <http://www.kymac.org>. | List posting address: <mailto:macgroup at erdos.math.louisville.edu> | List Web page: <http://erdos.math.louisville.edu/macgroup>
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