[X4U] Stopping Spam - Does Anything Work?

[Stan Gould]

At 6:23 -0800 1/15/05, revDAVE wrote:
>So, before I retire my favorite old email address,  I was 
>wondering if
>there's any way to get spammers to stop -  Org least cut down 
>on spamming
>you?

I highly recommend a challenge/response email service. 
BePrivate.com and Mailpass.com are two that I've used and they 
work. Of the two I like BePrivate is better: it has more message 
handling options.

Both work using a "whitelist," a list of addressesthat you want 
to receive email from. Here is the description from the Mailpass 
website:

>When people who are on your VerifiedSender List send you email, 
>their emails are delivered directly to your Inbox.
>
>When senders who are not on your Verified Sender List send you 
>email for the first time, their emails are put in your 
>unverified folder, and they automatically receive a 
>verification email. If the senders click the link in the 
>verification email, they are added to your Verified Sender List 
>and their past and future emails are automatically 
>delivereddirectly to your inbox. This way your verified sender 
>list is built automatically as you receive email.
>
>You can also manually add or remove anyone from your Verified 
>Sender List to further refine who has access to your inbox, but 
>for most of our customers their Verified Sender List is 
>generated automatically as their friends and family verify 
>themselves.
>
>If you are worried about missing an email from an unverified 
>sender, such as an automated purchase confirmation, you can 
>simply check your unverified folder.

Hope this helps.

Questions? Feel free to write to me off list: 
mailto:stan at stangould.com.

Stan