How to test if a module exists?

Mark Wooding mdw at distorted.org.uk
Thu Nov 11 06:28:27 EST 2010


r0g <aioe.org at technicalbloke.com> writes:

> Really? I get a metric butt-ton of spam every day to this address.

I'm sure I get sent a lot of spam (though I don't know for sure -- see
below).  But I don't think much of it comes from Usenet harvesters any
more.

> Right now it simply filtered by address straight into my recycle bin,
> I suppose if it ever becomes burdensome or starts to choke my
> bandwidth I'll tell my mailserver to bounce it :)

Don't do that.  Get your mailserver to /reject/ spam during SMTP with a
5xx code.  Bouncing spam is really bad because it implicitly assumes
that the envelope sender address is good.  Spam rarely has a valid
envelope sender.  If you're lucky, the envelope sender is simply
invalid, and you'll end up with a double-bounce when your mailserver
finds out.  If you're unlucky, the envelope sender is a /valid/ address
from the spammer's list and some innocent victim will end up receiving
your bounce (this is called `backscatter').

-- [mdw]



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