Re: [NTLK] [OT -- for sure] Spam?

From: Dan <dan_at_dbdigitalweb.com>
Date: Wed Jul 22 2009 - 10:13:10 EDT

On 7/21/2009 9:54 PM, Bob Carls Dudney wrote:
> > On 18/7/09, Dan wrote:
> > |
>> >> deleting old account address, but spammer does not delete it from
their lists
> >
> > I knew that but didn't know:
> >
>> >> email servers don't drop mail when it hits an unknown mail box
[sl. edited]
> >
> > Good to know. For some reason I had the impression if the address was
> > invalid the server rejected it. Perhaps because I get messages
> > telling me that when I send to an invalid address.

I should have clarified that further. What I meant by "don't drop mail"
is that the email server bounces it to the address it was sent to. A
bounce is in general the same size as the original mail with just a few
bits more added to the header, body and a changed subject to inform the
email bounced.

Bounces can be very helpful letting you know if someone has changed
their email address. However with spam it means that many times tons of
mail is being bounced from a address that should be just dropped (aka
deleted) instead of bounced since the bounce will never reach the
spammer anyway due to the return address being faked. Some servers no
longer do bounces for this reason. Most still do, it is the admins
decision.

-Dan

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Received on Wed Jul 22 10:08:58 2009

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