Here is the last mail the I sent on the subject: ========================================= I've seen address verifiers but I've never seen one that was very good. Most just issue rcpt clauses to smtp servers which are not always accurate. Many smtp servers accept email addresses even when the address does not exist. These accepted emails are then either sent to the postmaster of the domain for informational purposes or bounced back to the sender. So, basically, there are three types of responses when an email address is not valid:
error on rcpt clause message accepted and bounced message accepted and no bounce It's fairly simple to account for the first situation (ReportPostStatus, for example). For the second one, you need to write a db record and wait at least a day for the email to be bounced. If it never gets bounced then you can *assume* that the address is valid. The last situation cannot be accounted for. The other way to verify is to send an html message with a link to an image like: <img src="http://www.domain.com/tracker.cfm?id=1111111";> and, when the user opens the mail you can track that. However, that assumes that the user is on-line and has an html-capable email client. Anyway, I think that the best you can do is have a tag that verifies that an address is either invalid or possibly valid. Here is an example of a program that supposedly works with ColdFusion and ASP. I'm only providing this link as an example and not an endorsement of any kind. Personnaly, I'd rather code my own verifier with iMS. http://www.mailutilities.com/amv/ HTH, Howie ----- Original Message ----- From: "Matthew Boyce" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "inFusion Support List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, May 31, 2002 12:44 PM Subject: [iMS] checking valid email > Howie, > > You had mentioned in the past about how you can try to determine if an email > address is valid or not without actually sending an email (besides looking > for physical formatting). Do you recall this? What is the process to do > this? > > Matt Boyce > 101 Marketing, Inc. > ==^======================================================= This list server is Powered by iMS "The Swiss Army Knife of Mail Servers" -------------------------------------- To leave this list please complete the form at http://www.coolfusion.com/iMSSupport.cfm Need an iMS Developer license? Sign up for a free license here: http://www.coolfusion.com/iMSDevelopers.cfm List archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/infusion-email%40eoscape.com/ Note: You are subscribed as [email protected] ==^=======================================================
