Re: Yahoo and their mail filters..

[Brian Keefer <chort () smtps net>]

On Feb 25, 2009, at 1:08 PM, Zaid Ali wrote:

> There is also the issue of weather the user trusts the opt out link,  
> I have been in discussions where data shows that most users don't  
> generally trust it.
>
> Zaid

Nor should they.  Anyone who actually researches this stuff knows that  
the vast majority of "unsub" links simply confirm you as a live target  
who will click on random links sent to them through e-mail.   
Incidentally, what option is specified by the CAN-SPAM act?  Oh yeah,  
opt-out.  Genius.

You will never be able to educate the masses on the difference between  
a legit unsub link and a malicious one.  The safest thing for lusers  
is to ignore them all.

It would be nice if the webmail providers simply mapped the "report  
spam" function to "add sender to personal blacklist", that way lusers  
who report their mailing list as spam would simply stop seeing it.   
Unfortunately that would also result in a lot more storage  
requirements on the part of said webmail providers, which is probably  
a major reason why they don't do it.

Frankly the best approach is probably to make  "report as spam"  a  
NOP.  Users get it wrong the vast majority of the time.  Automated  
honeypot analysis with oversight from clueful e-mail operators is the  
best way to handle uncaught spam.

--
bk