Freddy Posted May 14, 2003 Share Posted May 14, 2003 Periodically Earthlink adds new features to its tools and services to enhance my Internet experience. Their newest offering is a set of spam filters. For some time now I opted-in for Earthlink’s spam filtering service (provided by Britemail) and known spam was moved into a folder that I can read only on the web. This folder is periodically purged. While I have never seen false positives, it's capture rate is somewhere between 50 - 70%. Evidently the spammers are one or two steps ahead of Britemail.Earthlink recently went Beta with a new feature. They added a Suspicious Mail option, which basically captures and holds all other mail that is not in your web-mail address book. This folder is also purged periodically. Once a day I get an email listing all suspicious mail that's been held. I can go online and authorize suspicious mail. With a click of a button, the sender is added to my address book and the email is moved to my inbox. Only mail in my inbox is downloaded to my outlook mail client. I liken this service to ZoneAlarm - a bit burdensome at first, but eventually becomes invisible.Now for the downside: For every email received in the suspicious folder, a challenge/response email is sent as a reply. The intent is to verify the sender is a live person and the address is legit. There are times when I would prefer not to use this feature. For one, this would increase the spam coming in as it verifies my address is active. Second, it puts what I see as unnecessary burden on administrators of forums and newsletters to participant in a service I’ve already opted-in on. Lastly, I can't predict what the response will be from automated services that receive the challenge/response emails - will they be confused and terminate my subscription? Having a finite and know number of recipients this solution works for me, but may not work for everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siebkens Posted May 14, 2003 Share Posted May 14, 2003 Having a finite and know number of recipients this solution works for me, but may not work for everyone.I am the web contact for our local soccer association (yes, I'm a soccer mom), so I can't count on whitelists to filter my inbox. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teacher Posted June 12, 2003 Share Posted June 12, 2003 My web mail version of earthlink has been down for a week. Now it is back up with the spam block program. What address should we put in so that the newsletter does not get all these replys asking for confirmation? It should be pretty simple to add the newsletter as a known address but I want to make sure I use the right version of the address. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbredmound Posted June 12, 2003 Share Posted June 12, 2003 I really think you are going to need to specify like a Madman, or face some significant isolation. Challenge/Response demonstrates the impatience surrounding the spam problem, but does not acknowledge the boredom of being in your "own little world".I think that "challenge/response" is "nuking" the problem. As you proceed, I can almost guarantee that you will find many legitimate emailers (the likes of Scot) who are not ready to deal with your system, because there is no good way to get through your block.AND, by the time folks figure out how to respond effectively, the spammers will have figured it out, too, and we'll be on to "the next big thing".You see, the Spam Wars are like the Drug Wars; there is a lot of money at stake, the market is international, and the price of absolute victory is absolute isolation.I think that Earthlink "jumped the gun" on this one, and I think that you are going to know why I think that, in short order. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nlinecomputers Posted June 13, 2003 Share Posted June 13, 2003 jbredmound is right. Challenge response email will just ruin the only good aspect of email. Automation. Somethings need to be done automaticly like purchase conformations or mailing lists. This kind of system will freeze all of that and make managing the email more of a chore. I want my computer to give me less work not more. That why I use POPfile.It sorts my email based on content NOT on who sends me email. For example I am in a networking group that meets every Wed. One member is in charge of sending out notices about the meetings she also sends out jokes which to me is spam that I have to deal with. POPfile monitors how I sort mail and has learned by content when she is sending meeting information and when she is sending me a joke. It sorts that mail very well. I rearly miss items. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted June 13, 2003 Share Posted June 13, 2003 I totally agree with JB and nline!I think that this stupid challenge/response thing is nearly as much of a bane as spam itself! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teacher Posted June 13, 2003 Share Posted June 13, 2003 Okay guys. I am stuck with earthlink if I want DSL. I only receive email from folks I have on my list and two newsletters. JB - I am happy in my own little world. Just kidding. I have three email accounts. One I use for everything public, one for forum stuff, and one for family. I happen to have the newsletter going to the one for family because I remember to check that one every day. So I thought it would be easy to go ahead and let it filter in case anyone ever finds the address but the newsletter is the only one not in my address book (except having some weird very distant cousins that I block ). Am I crazy? So, you already knew that answer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbredmound Posted June 13, 2003 Share Posted June 13, 2003 Okay guys. I am stuck with earthlink if I want DSL. I only receive email from folks I have on my list and two newsletters. JB - I am happy in my own little world. Just kidding. I have three email accounts. One I use for everything public, one for forum stuff, and one for family. I happen to have the newsletter going to the one for family because I remember to check that one every day. So I thought it would be easy to go ahead and let it filter in case anyone ever finds the address but the newsletter is the only one not in my address book (except having some weird very distant cousins that I block ). Am I crazy? So, you already knew that answer!Teach, you can adjust the challenge response system, but I'm not sure how. When I was in "the big city", Earthlink was my DSL Provider, and I would use them again in an instant.Interestingly, David Berlund just wrote another JamSpam article, and he calls Earthlink's system "an interesting idea". As I read that, I thought, "et tu, Brute?"Later..."We come here not to praise jbredmound, but to excoriate him for his narrow mind." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freddy Posted June 13, 2003 Author Share Posted June 13, 2003 The Earthlink approach is two fold - challenge/response and use of an address book, and each works independantly.I find there is little additional effort, a click or two. Earthlink sends a daily list of suspected email and adds a 'add to address book' button next to each email held. Clicking the button allows that and all future emails through. You can even add whole domains to the address book.Like I said, it would be nice to turn off the challenge/response feature so Scott and other moderators don't get bothered with unnecessary emails. All it really achieves is confirming that there is a real person on the other end...if the sender is cooperative.So far the solution has worked well for me - I even deleted all the spam filtering rules set up in my email client. Its nice to see an inbox that doesn't contain spam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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