Cleaning up a bad e-mail reputation

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As long as they ONLY send it to those who asked for it

As long as they ONLY send it to those who asked for it, and confirm the user at the email address asked for it (ie, send a confirmation email).

http://www.spamhaus.org/mailinglists.html

Since I'm never entering the sweepstakes, and never want their emails, I'm always going to mark their emails as "spam."

Reputation systems are nice, but easy to get around. Get a new IP address, fake the email address, get a new reputation - spammers do it all the time. That, plus it takes time for a reputation to become clear - at which point, the spammer is likely to move on, as spammers rarely stay in one place for any amount of time.

They are a nice thing to have, but IMHO should be used along with automated systems that adapt to new spams more quickly.

Some systems such as the XBL and ORDB can detect zombie computers and open relays in an automated fasion, allowing them to detects computers that could be used for spam possibly even before the spammers can use them.

Learning systems such as bayesian filtering can learn and adapt to new spams quickly and easily also.

Email reputation is nice, but should be used along with other methods to ensure that spam is caught quickly. IMHO, reputation does not keep up with spammers fast enough.

Remember: Most spammers are always changing IP addresses, and always fake their email addresses. By the time they get a "spammy" reputation, they have probably already moved elsewhere.

Posted by: CobraA1   Posted on: 04/27/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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