N
Mon Nov 24 18:40:48 CST 2003
In article <l2twb.12537$lm1.92842@wards.force9.net>,
postmaster@XnospamXpaulhsimon.plus.com says...
> I've been using a tool called ABouncer (recommended by someone on this NG)
> to notify ISP's when I receive Unsolicited Bulk E-mail.
>
> I started wondering whether this tool is actually working properly, so I
> tried sending mail from my web-mail address to ordinary address, then used
> ABouncer to bounce it back to my web address.
>
> This has not worked, so does that mean ABouncer is'nt sending any messages
> to ISP's, or am I misunderstanding something.
>
> Incidentally, when I click SEND on ABouncer, after a few seconds it
> flashes up Caught Sendmail ....... I've always assumed that meant that the
> message had been sucessful.
Whatever anybody told you about bouncing email, you can't bounce it, if you
aren't running the SMTP server. And even if you are running an SMTP server,
you should never bounce email. The reason end users can't bounce email is
because it has already been delivered; a bounce is a notice of failure to
deliver.
The reason that using a program like ABouncer is a bad idea is because you
can cause more havoc by trying to return the email to the sender. Last June
a yahoo.com email account that I have was forged as the sender in a spam
run. I got over 200 bounces, a taunt, and a challenge from one of those
spiffy Challenge/Response email systems. Your ABouncer would have added to
my misery; but I didn't send the spam.
If you want to do something other than JHD, learn how to identify the
spammer by reading the full headers, and picking the source IP address from
the right Received: line. Learn how to use whois tools, and digging tools,
to get to the source of the spam.
Here is one place to start:
http://www.samspade.org/ssw/
If you are willing to dig a little, and learn how to read headers, another
place that can help is here:
http://www.spamcop.net/
But if you are going to report spam through SpamCop, please don't just
robotically click on everything that you see. Learn how a SpamCop parse
works, and how to tell when to check an unchecked box, or to uncheck a
checked box. Knowing the difference can save you from losing your own email
account because you reported yourself to SpamCop! :O
--
Norman
~Win dain a lotica, En vai tu ri, Si lo ta
~Fin dein a loluca, En dragu a sei lain
~Vi fa-ru les shutai am, En riga-lint