[BZ]

I get a lot of Spam. A ton. Something like 200 a day total over 7 emails accounts. Some of the accounts I have had for 6 years, so it is expected.

The junk filter is great, it works, it gets 95-98% of spam.

What do people think about using "bounce message to sender" on SPAM. Do you think it would cut down on SPAM in the short or long run?

BZ

[gorickey]

I've always NOT done this for one reason/philosophy:

If I was sending out SPAM to somebody, and received something back...not only would I know that the account I sent the SPAM to originally is valid; however, I now know to send you MORE SPAM in the future.

[york28]

It doesn't usually work since most spam uses fake return addresses.

[The_Equivocator]

Originally posted by gorickey:
I've always NOT done this for one reason/philosophy:

If I was sending out SPAM to somebody, and received something back...not only would I know that the account I sent the SPAM to originally is valid; however, I now know to send you MORE SPAM in the future.

It doesn't work this way. What "Bounce to sender" does is send an e-mail that mimics "This e-mail address is invalid" that mail servers sometimes send out. So, if the spam is not completely spoofed (i.e. there is enough information in the headers to figure out where it came from), bouncing is good. It usually has the effect of automatically removing your address from that spam list.

Unfortunately, a lot of spam is so well spoofed that the headers do not tell you where it originated from, but I still bounce all of my spam, and as far as I know, I get less spam now because of it.

[Grrr]

Originally posted by The_Equivocator:
It doesn't work this way. What "Bounce to sender" does is send an e-mail that mimics "This e-mail address is invalid" that mail servers sometimes send out. So, if the spam is not completely spoofed (i.e. there is enough information in the headers to figure out where it came from), bouncing is good. It usually has the effect of automatically removing your address from that spam list.

Unfortunately, a lot of spam is so well spoofed that the headers do not tell you where it originated from, but I still bounce all of my spam, and as far as I know, I get less spam now because of it.

Yep, that is exactly what I do, and for all the same reasons.
Sure, many spams have a fake return address, so your bounced mail occasionally gets re-bounced back. But i am surprised how many dont come back.. So I still firmly believe that bouncing spammed mail back does help.

[SupahCoolX]

I bounce spam, but I can't tell if it's really making any difference.
While perusing Apple's .Mac support pages today, I came across a Knowledge Base article with a good suggestion (only works with .mac email, of course):
1) Select View:Show All Headers (in Mail- check the Help for any other email apps you may use)
2) Forward the message to abuse@mac.com
3) Apple's filters will analyze the message, and prevent future spam from that source from ever reaching your inbox
We'll see how this works. Has anyone else gotten any results with this?

[wataru]

Originally posted by SupahCoolX:
2) Forward the message to abuse@mac.com

Wow, cool! I never knew about that. I'll have to try it out.

[MrBS]

Bouncing spam is usually a bad idea. You're just adding to the number of worthless emails flying around using bandwidth and filling inboxes.

Any spammer worth the title isn't going to have their email address anywhere in the headers, you're just going to be bouncing all your emails into some poor schlub's inbox (oftentimes people at anti-spam organizations).

Search the archives, this has been talked about dozens of times.
~BS

[headbirth]

So, if I receive an item I want to mark as Junk, how do I do that without opening the item .... when I select it Mail shows the contents. Isn't that how viruses are contracted? Does mail have a remote feature? Can I delete the contents of a folder without selecting all the contents?

Make sense?

[gorickey]

Originally posted by headbirth:
So, if I receive an item I want to mark as Junk, how do I do that without opening the item .... when I select it Mail shows the contents. Isn't that how viruses are contracted? Does mail have a remote feature? Can I delete the contents of a folder without selecting all the contents?

Make sense?

You can create a rule for your Junk mail that will basically trash the Junk e-mail (and marking it read at the same time) and you won't have to mess with it at all because it will go straight to the trash...

[PubGuy]

In you Mail.app window, you need to place your mouse on the dividing line between you new mail list and the preview pane, click and hold on the dividing line and drag it all the way to the bottom. This will stop mail.app from automatically previewing your emails. Now, to read emails, just double-click on them.

[Mastrap]

Originally posted by headbirth:
Isn't that how viruses are contracted?

No, you don't have to worry about that. There are precious few viruses for the Mac as it is, thankfully.

There are very few viruses that work without you having to click on an executable file and as far as I know none for the Mac.

[Mastrap]

Originally posted by MrBS:
Bouncing spam is usually a bad idea. You're just adding to the number of worthless emails flying around using bandwidth and filling inboxes.

Any spammer worth the title isn't going to have their email address anywhere in the headers, you're just going to be bouncing all your emails into some poor schlub's inbox (oftentimes people at anti-spam organizations).

~BS

Absolutely. There is no way any spam email will ever find its way back to where it came from.

Go to http://www.spamcop.net and sign up for a free account. That way you can report spam quickly and efficiently directly from mail.app. The ISP the spammer used will usually just close their accounts.

[pimephalis]

Originally posted by PubGuy:
In you Mail.app window, you need to place your mouse on the dividing line between you new mail list and the preview pane, click and hold on the dividing line and drag it all the way to the bottom. This will stop mail.app from automatically previewing your emails. Now, to read emails, just double-click on them.

Or, you can turn off HTML formatting of your email. There's an applescript that I found on the macosxhints page which will turn on html formatting for 10 seconds or so and then shut it back off again as a default. The advantage to this approach is that you can continue to read your mail, but if it's spam infested with a web bug, you will not be validating your email address inadvertently when you open the 'GET A BIGGER P**NIS NOW!!!' email by accident.

[pimephalis]

Originally posted by Mastrap:
Absolutely. There is no way any spam email will ever find its way back to where it came from.

Go to http://www.spamcop.net and sign up for a free account. That way you can report spam quickly and efficiently directly from mail.app. The ISP the spammer used will usually just close their accounts.

Excellent advice. In fact, you should NEVER bounce spam. Very often spammers will use the email address of a known adversary/enemy to hammer them with a near DDOS of bounced/replied emails. This action is called a Joe Job, and can really infuriate honest netizens. Please don't contribute to the problem by bouncing your email as well. Just trash the junk and let be.

If you're really so fed up that you need to do something, start by reading up on Spamcop and SamSpade. You'll need to know something about mail headers and tracerouting, and will come to realize that most spam messages can never be traced back to their original source. They come through open anonymizing relays or more often, these days, open proxies on infected home users' systems (mostly win 98 or xp). The truly committed spam fighter can contact the users' ISP and inform them that a misconfigured computer is out there spewing junk around the net, which hopefully (rarely) will put a stop to that particular source.

If that isn't proactive enough for ya, I'd suggest finding Alan Ralsky, Ronnie Scelson or some other well known spammer and fitting them with some concrete shoes.

[iRebound]

yep, bouncing mail is bad. spamcop is the best way to go.