Several days ago, the amount of spam I was getting suddenly dropped dramatically. Today, I went to my ISP’s website to investigate and here’s what I found:
3/04/04 - Spam Filtering
We have implemented an additional system to eliminate spam. This system blocks traffic from open mail servers listed in the ORDB.ORG > http://ordb.org/ > database and is similar to the system we tried to implement back in October of 2000 but at the time many E-mail servers were still left open for spammers to use for sending out junkmail. Since then it has gotten to the point that ANY network admin running an open mail server is doing it for the sole purpose of sending and promoting Spam. This will not only reduce spam and lighten the load of the mail server but also greatly reduce the chance of new viruses from getting to the TCE mail server before Antivirus updates are available.
Does anyone know about this system? Will any of my normal emails get blocked?
You’d only ‘lose’ (not receive) normal emails if they happen to come from someone using one of the mailservers on their ‘blacklist’.
And it looks as though the only way to check that is if you know the domain name of the mailservers folks use to email you, since they don’t provide an open list to look at.
What’ll likely happen is if someone emails you via one of the blacklisted servers, their mail will be bounced back to them as ‘spam’…which’ll tell them that their mailserver is on the blacklist. They would then need to find an alternative way of contacting you, either using another mailserver if they have access to one, or via PM.
Truth is, you won’t know unless they can find a way to tell you that their emails have bounced.
Not all SPAM filters are created equal.
I’m using Earthlink and blacklisted messages sent to me end up in a SPAM folder in my mailbox. They do not get bounced. I have the option to delete them, move them to my main mailbox or ignore them and they get purged about every three weeks.
I prefer to keep the SPAMblocker off so I can bounce them using MailWasher.
As long as the sender knows the email didn’t reach me, that’s good enough. I’ll assume it will happen rarely, if at all. It’s much more peaceful without so much junkmail.
This seems to be different from the kind of spam filters you’re describing. This filter is at the ISP, not at my computer. I also have MailWasher, but the amount of mail coming into it has diminished by about 90%.
If you haven’t done so already, click the link in my first post in this thread and look at the info about the system.
I’ve been using the ORDB blocklist on my servers for a few years now. In all that time, I’ve only had one legitimate mail blocked, and that was because her company was deliberately running an open relay, which had already been used as a “spam run”. ORDB doesn’t search for open relays, it only tests for an open relay if someone complains about spam coming from it.
Personally, I’d say the risk of losing legit email from using ORDB is extremely small.
In my attempt to stop all the junk mail I made the mistake of getting a newer version of my Norton Antivirus. My old one was a 2000 version.
This has ruined so much of my computer. My Outlook Express is now usless. I have to use an online program to read e-mails and sift thru the hundreds of daily e-mail junk to find the real ones. Plus the firewall or somesuch keeps lots of programs from opening- even set at the lowest level. I could go on and on. I’m sure if I was more computer savvy I could work around this but I shouldn’t have to be, dag-gone it! I can’t just get a new e-mail address since it is also my business one and that would really mess things up. Oh, yeah, and when I installed this program, realized it was making a mess of things, I contacted Symantec immediately , told them how it had messed things up, etc. tried to get a refund and return it . Well, forget that. They just said they realized some problems sometimes arose! I’ll never use another product of theirs.
End of RANT.
Just installed Norton anti-virus myself. No problems here. I did have prolems when trying to use the System Works package on a machine that was too old. Just uninstalled everything and then reinstalled just the anti-virus portion.
On a different note:
Would you be willing to double or triple the current postage rate if it meant NO junk mail in your mail box? Heck, the rate may not even have to change at all since most bulk mailers pay a lower rate anyway, probably subsidised by our rate.
I can’t just get a new e-mail address since it is also my business one and that would really mess things up. Oh, yeah, and when I installed this program, realized it was making a mess of things, I contacted Symantec immediately , told them how it had messed things up, etc. tried to get a refund and return it . Well, forget that. They just said they realized some problems sometimes arose! I’ll never use another product of theirs.