Date: Wed, 18 Aug 2004 20:05:25 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl at KeithLynch.net>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: SpamArrest
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>

Jim Kling <jkling at nasw.org> wrote:

> The spammer won't go jump through the hoop of going to a web page
> and doing the confirmation.

Neither will most legitimate users.  Some won't.  Some can't.
See my previous message.

> What really appeals to me about SpamArrest is that it generates
> backlash against the spammer -- he gets a confirmation email sent
> right back to him.  Send 100,000 emails to 100,000 people using
> SpamArrest or a similar service, and you're server would crash.

Completely wrong.  For one thing, the vast majority of spams are sent
with a forged return address -- sometimes *my* address.

For another, the net is the spammers' toilet.  They don't drink from
it.  If you get into a pissing contest with a spammer, all you do is
soak the whole Internet in urine.  In annoys the legitimate users.
And spammers like it.