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Archiver > BYGONES-USERS > 2003-09 > 1062861551


From: Troy Adair <>
Subject: [Bygones] Good Spam Solution
Date: Sat, 06 Sep 2003 09:19:11 -0600


This is off subject for this list, but since I have been very pleased
recently with a spam blocking solution, I wanted to share this information
with my friends on this list.

As a genealogist, we often post messages on this and other genealogical
mailing lists. Unfortunately, our email addresses can then be "harvested,"
or collected, by robots that search such mailing lists for email addresses
to send spam to. That results in most of us genealogists getting a lot of
"spam" emails.

I've tried several solutions over the last year to deal with spam, and the
only type that I've found real effective are the services that do the
following (which have been spoken of lately in the "plus"/fee edition of
Dick Eastman's Genealogical Newsletter) :
1) They route your incoming emails through their own servers,
2) Check them against an "accept list" you have set up, then
3) Let those on your "accept list" through to you, and then
4) Send an automated email to those who are not on your "accept list," to
let them know their emails didn't get through to you. But it also tells
them that if they are a real person rather than a spam robot, they can
easily add themselves to your "accept list" by answering a simple
question. (Usually it is looking at a small graphic/picture of a word or
number, and then simply typing the word/number that graphic/picture file
shows.)
5) Spam robots won't respond to the emails sent in step 4, so their emails
to you won't get through to you. But it is then easy for humans to answer
the simple question, and add themselves to your "accept list" by doing
so. Then, their current, and all future, emails will get through to you fine.

The service I have started using is
www.knowspam.net
It costs $20 per year. You can try it out for a few weeks for free before
you have to pay. I have been very pleased with it so far.

Another similar service is
www.spamarrest.com
I've heard good reviews about it, but it costs a bit more--$35 per year.

These services do work well with mailing lists such as this, but you do
need to make a little initial "time investment" when you first start using
them, to put the mailing lists on your accept list.

For people who may try out the knowspam.net service, note that it really
separates incoming emails into two groups, which it processes differently:
(1) Those that have your email address in the "to" line. If the sender is
not on your "accept list," they get sent the automated email spoken of above.
(2) Those that do not have your email address in the "to" line. This will
include mailing lists like this one, because the value in the "to" line
will be either "" (if you subscribe to the
normal version of this mailing list) or "" (if
you subscribe to the digest version of this mailing list), rather than your
email address. If I understand it correctly, these senders are NOT sent
the automated email spoken of earlier. These emails are initially held by
knowspam.net for a while. They are displayed on a "possible mailing list"
web page, that you can review, and click on a button if they are a mailing
list you wish to receive. IF you don't do that, they will be deleted. So,
when you first subscribe to this service, you will need to spend a little
time reviewing that "possible mailing lists" page, and clicking on the
button to set it up to let legitimate mailing lists messages get through to
you. But after a few days, you shouldn't need to that anymore. But if you
later subscribe to a new mailing list, you will need to remember to tell
knowspam.net to let those emails through to you.

I hope some others will find the above services useful too.

Troy

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