[X4U] Make the Junk filter do a better job?

[Randy B. Singer]

On Apr 18, 2008, at 10:46 AM, nk wrote:

> My hosting service, Bluehost, suggested a challenge/response type  
> thing, which they provide, but can anyone here talk about how  
> clients feel about stuff like that?
>
> am I understanding correctly that a new emailer (like a potential  
> client) can email you, then have to "prove" their legitimacy by  
> answering a qualifying email?

Exactly.  A new potential client, who you have not already white- 
listed, simply has to respond to a "challenge" e-mail to show that  
they are in-fact a real person and not a spam bot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Challenge-response_spam_filtering

While challenge/response systems can effectively cut spam down to  
zero, they can also dissuade legitimate contacts from e-mailing you.   
I personally find challenge/response systems to be terribly  
annoying.  For instance when I send out my newsletter (100% to folks  
who have purposely subscribed), a certain number will always bounce  
from addresses where a c/r system has been put in place and the  
addressee has neglected to put my e-mail address on his while list.   
If I receive more than one or two such bounces I'm not inclined to  
respond to them.

I think that in most instances a c/r system is overkill.  But I can  
easily see how some folks could get so fed up with spam that they are  
willing to go with the overkill solution.

___________________________________________
Randy B. Singer
Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions)

Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance
http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html
___________________________________________