Whitelist/verification spam filters

[Paul Rubin]

Erik Max Francis <max at alcyone.com> writes:
> Perhaps it's just me, but I find it annoying having to go through hoops
> to contact someone for legitimate purposes.  It's the same kind of
> thing, although more so, as people using mangled email addresses on
> Usenet.  The most infuriating case is when someone asks for help on
> Usenet; if I reply by email and the mail bounces because they mangled
> their address, I'm not likely to fix it and resend -- it's their loss.

But why email the response at all?

Generally if I ask something on Usenet, I'll watch the newsgroup for
replies and most people will in fact reply on Usenet.  It bugs me when
I get emailed replies unless there's a really specific reason to reply
by email (e.g. the email contains private info).  

I went from a naked to a mangled email address in my usenet headers
which has really helped me cut back on spam.  I still get some emailed
replies to usenet articles though, most of which I'd rather not get.

I've been thinking of quitting having a public email address at all,
and just putting a url instead of an email address in my news posts.
My web site has a cgi (http://www.nightsong.com/phr/message.html) that
allows sending me private messages more securely than email (because
it uses SSL).  But I need to renew the certificate and I want to
switch to a shorter url.

---Paul
[Any non-confidential responses should please go to usenet only, not
email--thanks.]