On Sat, Aug 03, 2013 at 12:31:05AM -0700, Brian Martin wrote:
> Can someone explain this to me?
>
> I have a web-site where people can sign up to receive occasional
> e-mails. When they sign up, my code sends an e-mail to the given
> address asking for confirmation. Of course, if the e-mail address is
> invalid the confirmation bounces back to me as undeliverable.
>
> It appears that some sort of bot is occasionally filling out the form
> with a bad e-mail address. I get several bounces a week for what often
> look like outdated or made up addresses. Here are a few of the errors I
> get back from the the relevant mail servers:
>
> - Host or domain name not found.
> - No route to host
> - mailbox unavailable
> - This user doesn't have a yahoo.com account
>
> The site isn't very active and doesn't get many sign-ups at the moment.
> Pretty much all the sign-up activity is this sort of stuff. It happens
> too often to just be a case of someone mistyping their e-mail address
> (twice) when they sign up. I just retested the code using an external
> e-mail account, it works properly when given a valid e-mail address.
>
> My question is --- what's the point? Why is a bot interested in signing
> bad addresses (or any addresses, for that matter) up for a mailing
> list. I certainly haven't hired anyone to promote the site. Can anyone
> enlighten me as to the motivation behind this?
The bot isn't parsing your form to see that you'll send an email to verify the
address.
It's just filling out the form and then, presumably, attempting further access
on the site.
--
Michael Rasmussen, Portland Oregon
Be Appropriate && Follow Your Curiosity
Other Adventures: http://www.jamhome.us/ or http://gplus.to/MichaelRpdx
A special random fortune cookie fortune:
Don't think what is good for you is good for everyone.
~ http://someoneoncetoldme.com/gallery/25072010
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