Bruce Richardson said:
> Grah. I hate challenge/response systems: they are lazy and
> inconsiderate, just shifting your own spam problem into other people's
> mailboxes. The TMDA developers, like some others, justify it by saying
> that their other techniques help limit the actualy number of challenges
> sent out but this just shows the uselessness of C/R. If other
> techniques can narrow down the "undecided" messages to just a few, you
> should review them yourself. If they can't, then TMDA will just help
> you become another idiot spammer.
I strongly disagree with you, Bruce. Look at the numbers.
How many different email addresses do you receive VALID email from?
Now how many different addresses do you receive BAD email from,
ie, spam?
If you're on even a few mailing lists, or web forums, or remotely
active on the internet, you likely get upwards of 30 spam messages
a day. If you're like me, and have a valid email address in a very
visible spot where it can be web-scraped by spammers easily, you
get THOUSANDS.
How many of those email addresses you *want* email from could you
add to a whitelist (say, for TMDA) right off the bat?
How many of the people who you *didn't* whitelist before they sent
you mail are able to READ, UNDERSTAND, and FOLLOW SIMPLE DIRECTIONS
(consisting basically of: "if you're a real person, just hit reply,
and all your messages will get through") exactly *once* to add
themselves to your whitelist and help you avoid spam? Isn't doing
such a small thing for you the neighborly thing for them to do?
Wouldn't you do it for them to help *them* avoid being drowned in
spam?
How does C/R shift my spam problem (remember, thousands of spam
messages a day) into someone else's mailbox (other than MAYBE the
spammers themselves, who frankly, I don't give a damn about)?
It puts more load in dealing with the confirmation messages on the
servers the spammers are spoofing- I admit. Most of the messages
just get dropped on the floor since they're to fake addresses.
But it's not "shifting into" any real person's mailbox.
> Quite a few mail admins of my acquaintance blacklist people who use C/R
> systems. If I see much more crap from such systems, I'll probably start
> doing the same.
I have a feeling that if you do, you'll all start getting LOTS less
email from real people, and your spam/real email ratio will soar
as more and more people start using TMDA, Mailblocks, and the like
to avoid what has become an overwhelming problem. After all...
spammers don't use C/R, people who hate spam do.
And aren't they the people you *want* to get email from?
-Rick
SquirrelMail "Head Nut" and TMDA aficionado
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