Jeff wrote, at 08/25/2008 08:50 PM:
On Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 9:46 AM, Tony Holmes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I want the From address to be set to something like [EMAIL PROTECTED]
A mail sent to this address will cause no error, but nobody will
read those emails.
That is a very very bad idea and the best way to have your server added to
many RBLs.
<snip>
I'm afraid I don't see how sending mail with an unmonitored return
address (i.e., accepted and delivered locally to /dev/null) will get
you on an RBL. I get mail of that type from big companies all the
time. They usually have something in the message that explains that
you should not reply and that replies will not be read. Could someone
expand on the RBL comment?
Ignoring replies is unlikely to get you added to an RBL in an automated
way.
We have reason to do this for messages that provide automated
information but are not intended to start a dialogue with the
customer. Why is this wrong? It seems to be a rather common practice.
It depends on your method and target audience. RBLs can have any
criteria, and all it takes is an angry and/or frustrated recipient to
report the message as spam. The Spamcop RBL once relied on this
approach, but eventually changed its weighting system to significantly
reduce the human factor.
In the case of the scenario that spawned this thread, the recipient
might have no participation in the process at all if they didn't opt in,
but a "friend" sent a page via email using a web interface. Even if you
provide an opt-out mechanism in the email, it is often easier for a
recipient to simply click a "mark this as spam" button, which could get
you blacklisted at a major ESP (or even worse, blacklist the machine
that forwards such a message). Spam is in the eye of the beholder, and
there are various ways a recipient could get you added to an RBL,
depending on its criteria.
If you run a system that sends automated email, minimize its potential
for abuse in allowing one user to send unsolicited content to another,
and provide a dead simple opt-out mechanism. The best ones simply
include a link that will unsubscribe the recipient immediately, no
questions asked, no passwords, and no forms to fill out. This will help
mitigate problems caused by using a reply address that's a black hole.
