On Thu, Jan 20, 2011 at 12:33:06PM +0100, Reindl Harald wrote: > Am 20.01.2011 12:29, schrieb Christian Roessner: > > > Why adding a contact form? If a postmaster really does his/her > > job and scans the logs, finds your assistance info and enters the > > website, don't you think the same admin is also able to write a > > mail to you (postmaster@...)? > > Because if his server is rejected you will also not receive this > mail
Typically that's not the kind of postmaster (or end user) who is blocked by antispam measures. It's more likely the site where the postmaster isn't a dedicated position, where s/he has other issues taking up time, and mail is just a poorly-understood sideline, or worse, outsourced to an incompetent provider. I'm thinking about end users at XBL-listed sites, where the mail server itself might be okay, but some employee got a virus which spewed out over a NATed port 25. I'm thinking about hobbyist postmasters who don't (yet?) understand why you can't have a mail server sending from a dynamic IP address. And of course, the thing we have to allow for, having delegated our access policy to a third party such as Spamhaus: what if that third party is wrong? I'll bet Steve would admit to having made listing mistakes a time or two. This is all about adding a safety net under a system which is doing well for the most part. Also, a good safety net might allow us more leeway in trying more aggressive antispam measures. Re: the comment upthread about "Alternative Media" being a sort of admission of failure: that's a good point, but I still don't believe that a perfect antispam system is possible in the wild and wooly reality of Internet email. Re: Mark's suggestion about the Q&A gatekeeper: thanks, I will look into that. -- Offlist mail to this address is discarded unless "/dev/rob0" or "not-spam" is in Subject: header