Jody wrote in 040209 MMDigest:

>[ This is a really interesting idea.  I'm not sure I'm ready to
>[ require it, but I'd be really interested to see if people would
>[ give it a try for a while.

Certainly worth a whirl.

>[ I am currently evaluating a mechanism that sends back
>[ a request for confirmation.

I've been lumbered with these when asking a simple question of
a stranger.  It is a pain in the fundament for the recipient.  And
I would assume it would allow the spammer to know you are replying
from a legitimate address.

>[ I'm interested in other's comments on the problem.

If you set your email to 'check manually', and you use a programme
like Mail Siphon, then you can see your messages on the server and
trash them right there and then.  Mail Siphon is a Mac application
programme but there's bound to be one for PC or whatever operating
system you use.  Alexandre Carlhian's URL is <www.maliasoft.com>;
it might give you some clue on where to look for an appropriate app
for your OS.

Another useful tool is to have _every_ email address on your web
page turned into a Javascript encryption.  I use a freebie (for Mac)
called Enkoder; the address looks and works fine for the viewer but
the code is blocks and blocks of "gibberish" which defeats the
spambots.  Each instance of the same address has a different encryption.
<www.hiveware.com> is where you'll find it.  Someone must have written
something similar for other OSes.

All this is a bit of a pain and adds to the burden but at least once
done, probably will cut your spam substantially except that your
addresses will be on numerous list circulating about cyberspace.  My
ISP subscribes to a number of spam filtering services <www.spamcop.com>
is one such.  They do make errors and friends sometimes find their mail
to me being bounced as blacklisted and I think there's a bit of tit for
tat among ISP's as well.  But it's not too hard for folks to get another
email address (e.g., a freebie) to have as a backup and to have their
mail forwarded.

Thanks for all the effort in keeping MMD afloat, it is much appreciated.
:-)))

Elaine de Saxe