On Wednesday 02 July 2014 at 00:12:07, Steve Bergman wrote:
> In short... try to explain that email isn't an instant messaging system
> to a customer with a dead fryer at 11AM emailing for a tech to help
> before the lunch crowd arrives. That's how email is used in the real
> world. And no amount of our saying "you shouldn't do that" is going to
> change the fact.
This may be true, but in the example that you give, tech support should really
have provided a better (ie: more reliable) mechanism for contact than email if
the customer is entitled to (expect) a prompt response.
I don't agree with blaming users of email for expecting it to work the way it
used to some years ago (remember the days of open relays, without problems,
and delivery notifications?) when it's the technology, and the security systems
which have been imposed on the system, which have changed, without the users
necessarily realising or being told, and which have made it work differently.
> People do expect all sorts of things that email was never designed to
> handle. Protection for abuse by spammers is one. The sending of DVD
> attachments is another. And our own abuse of the system to try to
> prevent others' abuse of the system results in a certain collateral
> damage which is quite real.
People with email accounts should be (continually) informed of what service
they're being offered and can thereby reasonably expect to receive.
> I cannot think of a whitelisting system, in tandem with a kluge like
> greylisting, which would not do more harm than good. At least not for a
> service organization like ours.
Horses for courses - what works well for others may not work well for you -
but that's no reason to dismiss it outright. (Yes, I agree that you didn't,
but the point remains that for some people both whitelisting and greylisting
are very effective.)
> That said. I have plenty of kluges in place myself. I'm far from being
> authorized to speak from a "holier than thou" position. ;-)
Me too :)
Antony.
--
"There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home."
- Ken Olsen, President of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC, later consumed
by Compaq, later merged with HP)
Please reply to the list;
please don't CC me.
