Re: [Evolution] Future of Evolution

["Wise, Jeremey" <jeremey wise agilysys com>]

My $.02 

As part (lurker) on the qMail user list and a Mail admin in my own rite
I would have to agree that in today's mail environment bounces are of
little value and are more often a qualification for immediate drop. 

Too much spam.. 

As example... one of my home domains was online all of two days and it
was being spammed various systems out their 'guessing' usernames in an
attempt to find another entry for their list. I rsvped to one of them
for the fun of it and within days that user id had made it onto dozens
of other spam servers who were then sending spam to that user. Turned
out it was not such a great idea in that I get more spam on that one
user then I do on all my real accounts where the policy is "drop it on
the floor" for all no 'white-list' mail sources.


On Fri, 2004-05-21 at 14:05, Mark Gordon wrote:
> I get enough spurious bounce messages to have formed a strong opinion
> that bounce messages are a major contribution to needless mailbox
> clutter and a disservice to users in 99% of instances.  It once was true
> that bounce messages invariably came from machines to which I had
> actually sent messages and were a result of my having fatfingered an
> address.  Today, the overwhelming majority of bounce messages I receive
> are in response to spoofed email.  Welcome to 2004.  In this day and
> age, bounce messages are immoral.
>
> -Mark Gordon
>
> On Fri, 2004-05-21 at 19:44 +0200, Job 317 wrote:
> > I don't understand your anger. I am a client and user of Evolution. I
> > believe Novell traditionally does not treat their customers in this
> > manner.
> >
> > The "Bounce" function has may useful applications. I believe in my
> > original post I admitted the exact point you made in that most spammers
> > either don't look whether e-mail bounces, but likely forge the sending
> > address anyway. I simply indicated that it could be useful there.
> >
> > Also, if a user wants plausible deniability in not being notified of an
> > unpleasant event (say, dinner on Friday with an undesireable
> > acquaintance), a bounce of their original would make it appear that
> > either you no longer hold that e-mail address or that, at a minimum, the
> > server was down preventing delivery.
> >
> > Also, think of past employers attempting to get you to come back for a
> > contract that you don't want to deal with.
> >
> > Many usefull applications of this feature.
> >
> > Also, why would you ask whether I have developed the PGP-inline feature
> > for Evolution -- a feature that I know has been requested over and over
> > again for better overall integration with other PGP-enabled e-mail
> > services (e.g. Outlook). This question was simply an inquisition, not an
> > accusation.
> >
> > It was just a question for the developers. No need to get hot.
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > JOB
> >
> > On 21-May-2004 19:21:48 +0200, you wrote:
> > > On Fri, 2004-05-21 at 19:08 +0200, Job 317 wrote:
> > > > On 21-May-2004 17:57:20 +0200, you wrote:
> > > > > On Fri, 2004-05-21 at 16:52, Job 317 wrote:
> > > > > > Where can I find information about future releases and feature
> > > > additions
> > > > > > for Evolution?
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Specifically, I am interested in knowing when the next major
> > release
> > > > of
> > > > > > Evolution is due.
> > > > >
> > > > > 2.0: Q3
> > > >
> > > > Great.
> > > >
> > > > > > Third, I would like a Bounce option for SPAM. Is this available?
> > If
> > > > not,
> > > > > > will it be?
> > > > >
> > > > > Why would you want to bounce SPAM?
> > > >
> > > > Admitedly, a lot of SPAMers these days don't care whether the target
> > is
> > > > active or not and don't check. They will likely spoof the source
> > address
> > > > anyway. However, it is a nice feature to make the spammer think
> > that
> > > > your e-mail address does not exist. Also, other mail clients (e.g.
> > > > KMail) do currently support this feature.
> > >
> > > this is a totally wasteful feature to have. it does nothing but kill
> > > more bandwidth and create even more amounts of spam. What if the
> > > original spammer spoofs someone's email address and you hit bounce?
> > > well, now *that* user gets hit with extra spam... creating a world of
> > > even more pain and suffering. Besides, do you *really* think they pay
> > > attention to what addresses bounce? hell no, it's not economical to
> > do
> > > so.
> > >
> > > it's better to just leave the spam be and get on with your life.
> > don't
> > > contribute to the problem.
> > >
> > > > Any comment on the PGP-inline feature that I mentioned in my
> > original
> > > > post?
> > >
> > > have you coded it yet?
> > >
> > > Jeff
> > >
> > > -- 
> > > Jeffrey Stedfast
> > > Evolution Hacker - Novell, Inc.
> > > fejj ximian com  - www.novell.com