> Here's a crazy idea: And it puts the pressure on crap MUA's, too :)
> Use the user-random@domain format, but have the e-mail piped through a
> command that checks the References in the e-mail, and if it contains a
> valid reference to an e-mail that was posted from your own mail relay,
> then it passes it, otherwise, it bounces it (or trashes it). How does
> that sound? Have I missed anything?
That's not a bad idea. Allbut the original harvester will not have that
information - assuming most lists are sold/shared sans original content.
As you say, it relies on MUAs faithfully reproducing References. Fortunately
for us .qmail types, mess822 provides reliable access to header fields
for those who want to implement that idea.
Spammers tend not to use the Subject line either, so a little pattern
matching would catch that. Though why spammers tend not to use harvested
subject lines is beyond me - i think it'd work a lot better than "MAKE
MONEY FAST".
> markd> If you can control your DNS you can apply a similar strategy
> markd> to your domain by generating a reply address of
> markd> [EMAIL PROTECTED] where @domain is not a valid mail
> markd> target. But again, the number of people who have the
> markd> opportunity, or capability to do this, are low.
>
> True, but there are domain hosters out there who will host your domain
> for $99 per year (sorry I don't know their names, I just remember
> coming across them on occasion) that will let you modify your DNS at
> will. Not as elegant as your own
Yep. That'd be a pain as you have to change on something like a weekly,
rotation.
> BIND server (which is what I have,
Well heck pardner, round this neck of the woods some people might see
them as fightin' words! If you'd said use djbdns, then, well, yes,
we'd understand :>
Regards.