Deleted Mail by Black List

General discussion about PopMan.

Moderator: Christian

Post Reply
Darkbee
Posts: 37
Joined: 02 Mar 2005, 15:30

Deleted Mail by Black List

Post by Darkbee »

I assume that the only way to find out if Popman deleted mail because it was from an address on the black list would be to enable logging or are there any other prompts?

Can I use just domain names or do I have to use a valid email address? Are wildcards necessary?

My only concern is that I might inadvertantly blocked a genuine address, although right now it's not a huge problem. I'm just concerned that I might delete real emails accidentally.

If you are incorporating Multi-Tabbing perhaps you could incorporate a "junk-mail" tab which can then be viewed before deleting email. I realize that this is quite a big task and perhaps for a later version. I wasn't going to make any suggestions but since I did already then here's another one: (this is assuming that it doesn't happen already). Perhaps the Balloon popup (from the system tray when you have new messages) could display "xx messages deleted from black list." (where xx is the number)
User avatar
Christian
Site Admin
Posts: 387
Joined: 11 Jan 2004, 13:04
Location: Magdeburg, Germany
Contact:

Post by Christian »

I assume that the only way to find out if Popman deleted mail because it was from an address on the black list would be to enable logging or are there any other prompts?
No, there is no other prompt.

Can I use just domain names or do I have to use a valid email address?
You can use both:

Image

But be extra careful, when using domain names! You should only block specific domains, that you exspect never to get any useful email from, like "viagra.com". Don't block the domain of email providers like "hotmail.com" or "aol.com" even if all spam seems to come from there. If you do, you will eventually lose valid messages.

I don't really understand your concerns of deleting emails accidently: You should only block senders, that you never want to get any emails from. Double check the warning dialog, that is displayed, when you block a sender. Don't block the sender of all your spam emails! This would be ineffective and even dangerous, because spammers usually fake up innocent people's email address.

The black list feature is used to get rid of annoying emails from particular senders. Therefore, it doesn't make much sense to me, if there was a "x annoying emails blocked!" popup notification. This would only draw your attention to something that you have chosen not to draw any attention to.
Christian Hübner
Darkbee
Posts: 37
Joined: 02 Mar 2005, 15:30

Post by Darkbee »

Thanks for your logical thoughts. I understand all of your points, they make sense.

In terms of ""x annoying emails blocked!" popup, that is probably just my own morbid curiosity. I hate and loathe spam emails, advertising banners and popup windows. I suppose I get a kick out of the fact of knowing that I've beaten them in some cases. However, you are right, it isn't really necessary for me to know that I've blocked emails. The proof is in the inbox or rather isn't, since there'll be less junk there.

I have another related question... I realize that spammers sometimes use fake emails but if I block a fake email address will it still work? I mean, Popman has no way of knowing that it's fake, it only knows what is in the mail header. So if I get junkmail from totallyFakeEmailAddress@nosuchdomain.com and then simply block the domain nosuchdomain.com, I assume that any spammers that try to use that domain, in a fake email address, would get blocked?

Naturally I'm not going to block hotmail.com, yahoo.com, mail.com etc etc but there are definately many domains, that exist or not, that frequently generate spam. I should know since I compiled a list once from Hotmail of frequent spam offenders.

Here's a general question, open to all, are there any known domains/email address that generate spam? For example, most of you are probably aware of various Internet advertising companies such as advertising.com, doubleclick.com, fastclick.com and tribalfusion.com etc. who generate advertising banners on many Internet sites. So are there spam email equivalents?
User avatar
Christian
Site Admin
Posts: 387
Joined: 11 Jan 2004, 13:04
Location: Magdeburg, Germany
Contact:

Post by Christian »

I realize that spammers sometimes use fake emails but if I block a fake email address will it still work?
You will not get any emails that have this particular email address in the "From" field of the header. But be careful: Spammers can use a valid email address of innocent people like you and me! This is what I mean with "fake up an email address". So if a spammer decides to use my email address in the "From" field of his spam mails and you get one of them, thinking "Oh, maybe I should block the entire domain 'ch-software.de', it seems to generate spam", then all my future email to you will be lost, but the spammer will already use the "From" address of someone else! :evil:

The bottom line is that the black list feature is not a general-purpose anti-spam fighting tool! Only block the email address of particular, known senders, who produce recurring emails, like annoying newsletters, that you can't unsubscribe from...
Christian Hübner
Darkbee
Posts: 37
Joined: 02 Mar 2005, 15:30

Post by Darkbee »

Christian wrote:The bottom line is that the black list feature is not a general-purpose anti-spam fighting tool!
Yes, you are right of course. In actuality, I don't really have a spam problem, because I use the webmail/popmail strategy. In other-words I tend to use a pop3 account just for friends and family and use a webmail account for things like forums, gaming sites or anything from which I might potentially get junk. The webmail sites today tend to be better equipped to deal with spam.

I was just alarmed to receive some junkmail in the personal pop3 account the other day and it kind of freaked me out a bit. I can only assume that a family or friend used my email address (there are plenty of "enter five of your friends email addresses" websites) or some spammer simply guessed email addresses based on domain name.

Either way I am not planning on using Popman to fight spam but perhaps I am being overly cautious!
Last edited by Darkbee on 08 Apr 2005, 13:01, edited 5 times in total.
bigben

Deleted mail by blacklist

Post by bigben »

Hi Christian,
regarding Darkbee´s view about automatic deletion of blacklist-emails I share his concerns. I also think it would be good to have the option of having a glance at the mails to be deleted by the blacklist-feature. This would be especially useful for not so experienced mail-users I think.
Benno B.
Bittercrash
Posts: 31
Joined: 18 Jul 2004, 15:33

Post by Bittercrash »

Or don't delete them at all. Just put them into a 'junk mail' folder or bin.
Darkbee
Posts: 37
Joined: 02 Mar 2005, 15:30

Post by Darkbee »

Bittercrash wrote:Or don't delete them at all. Just put them into a 'junk mail' folder or bin.
But you can't do that in Popman... I'm guessing that you mean that Popman shouldn't be used to delete emails right off, but that you should let your actual email client handle it? (which is a fair point)

My main problem was that I was forgetting what the main purpose of Popman was for. This is because of the way I use Popman; like a mini email client. Since Christian has now given a precise clarification of how he envisages the black list to be used, I have changed my way of thinking. Now I just block individuals who are bugging me like the tax collector or bank manager :D If junk mail ever becomes a huge problem for me then I will have to look at alternative solutions to use alongside Popman.

IF any solution was to be proposed (and that is a big "IF") then MAYBE, Popman could incorporate rules and hide certain emails which apply to a rule but I would be concerned that Popman would cease to be an email checker and start moving into the realm of email client. I understand that this is not the direction Christian is heading in.

In otherwords... I'm now a convert who believes in the ways of Christian (does that make me a born again Christian?)
Post Reply