Timothy Miller wrote:
My ISP has installed a spam filter called "Vanquish" that works,
well... perfectly.
--snip--
Alex Tweedly replied:
I've never tried any of these schemes, so I may be misunderstanding
the details, but ...
if you send a message which can't be delivered (e.g. you mistyped
the address, or your friend's email box is full, or their ISP is
going out of business, or .....) then you would normally get a
message sent to you to inform you of the non-delivery. These often
come from some automated address which won't accept incoming email.
It looks to me as though Vanquish will block them (ok, it will
challenge them - but the automated sender address won't deliver mail
to a real person), and so you'll not be informed.
I hadn't thought of that. It is possible to view all blocked mail on
a web page. Wanted emails are easily released or added to the allow
list. But that's laborious. The whole point of this scheme is to
avoid viewing blocked mail. It's possible that Vanquish would
recognize a bounced email I have sent. I really don't know. It's not
a big concern for me, on the address Vanquish filters.
Similar issues should happen with problems on some mail lists, such
as emzlm, which warn you of delivery problems (e.g. including
attachments if not allowed, including html if not allowed, etc.) by
sending an automated email which won't get through.
The user can allow an entire domain name, and it has special features
for handling email lists. It's possible that some such mail would be
blocked. This would concern some users more than others.
Do you happen to know how it handles mail list (such as this one)
which show the individual senders in the "from" list (but I know I
haven't been challenged to get a message to you); does that mean it
allows you to whiltelist by "Reply-to" rather by "From" address ?
And if so, isn't that a way for spam to get in, since a spammer can
spoof reply-to addresses easily (assuming they have harvested email
addresses from specific mail lists) ?
This topic is a bit too technical for me. I allow a few common domain
names, and a few email lists are on the allow list. A few spams leak
through, occasionally, because spammers have spoofed return
addresses. The number is very small.
Even worse, if you are on an emzlm mail list, and for some reason
you're ISP is bouncing messages temporarily, then you'll get a
warning message - but it comes from the mail list administrator, not
the mail list itself, and therefore may not get through.
I don't know what emzlm is.
When I began using it, I checked out the withheld mail, to identify
addresses and domains I might want to add to the allow list. I spot
check it occasionally. That seems to identify most problems.
Bonded senders get through, too. They guarantee payment of a cent or
two per unwanted email. Spammers won't make that kind of commitment
of course. I don't know if this arrangement is catching on. I'd bond
my own email, but never quite figured out how.
(Or, in summary, I'm a bit skeptical about this overall approach :-)
Yeah, I see what you mean. I can live with the downside.
Come to think of it, I only use Vanquish with one email address.
Vanquish solved a dire problem for me. I've had the address for
years, but can't abandon it for another year or so, for reasons I
won't bother you with. It gets up to 500 spams per day. But
approximately zero spams per day sent to that address get past
Vanquish. The important messages, including those from unknown
senders I want to hear from get thru just fine.
I use other, newer email addresses for important business, all with
my own domain name. I reserve one address for all but a few email
lists. I don't filter those with Vanquish, though I have that option.
I try to reserve different addresses for specialized purposes, so
they can be abandoned more conveniently, if needed, and can be
filtered with Vanquish conveniently, if needed. I get very little
spam on the newer addresses, even though they are a couple of years
old now. I've learned not to be annoyed by a few spams per day. That
used to bug the heck out of me, before the number climbed into triple
digits.
Now that I've given it more thought, thanks to your thoughtful
comments, Vanquish seems one of several promising-but-imperfect
anti-spam strategies; it will suit some users better than others.
I hope this is of general interest, even though OT.
Cheers,
Tim
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