On 1/31/98 12:42 AM, Bob Brown <bbrown@dkmc.org> wrote...
>The fact that AOL allows their customers to block spam domains is
>great! The trouble is, that's not all AOL customers use it for.
It was originally designed just to block from people they didn't want to
get mail from, mainly as a parental control.
However, I know where you're going with this, and you're wrong.
>I run a number of lists for alumni of my high school. Lots of AOL
>customers zubscribe. Often they tire of the high volume of the
>general list. Do they unzubscribe? Nooo... they blacklist the domain
>from which the list is mailed. So far, OK. I get the bounces, (*all*
>the lists' messages bounce because everything is blacklisted) I unzub
>the person from all the lists, and all is well. A pain, but not a
>real problem.
>
> [ snip, paragraph where they ask to be put back on the list ]
>From my experiences, it's very rare for an AOL subscriber to block your
list because they don't want to receive mail from it anymore. Actually,
since the average AOL member (based on my observations) doesn't even know
what Field the Mail Controls use to block mail (it's the Return-Path, not
>From or Sender), they wouldn't succeed anyways.
Instead, they're being so barraged with UCE, that they've set their mail
controls to simply block all mail but a few set of addresses. It's
possible that they tried to add your list to their white list, if they
remembered it, but if they didn't add the Return-Path, it won't work for
them.
The solution, if you care, is to have instructions somewhere for AOL
members on how to un-block your list. I have detailed instructions that
/I/ use if anyone wants to email me privately for them.
>OK, AOL... here's what I want you to do about this: Please fix your
>mailer system so that your customers can't send mail *to* a domain
>they've blocked.
While I agree with your reasoning (though I wouldn't want it implemented
for personal reasons), I don't see that working since Return-Path often
has nothing to do with To.
--
Adam Bailey | Chicago, Illinois
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adamb@tezcat.com | you will never get out of it alive."
adamkb@aol.com | - Elbert Hubbard
Finger for PGP | http://www.tezcat.com/~adamb
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