Spam

I am now privy to an email address that is support@blah.com Every spammer on Earth and elsewhere just as an after thought sends a copy of all their mail to every registered URL with the word 'support' and 'webmaster' in front of it. Bastards.

There is something to be said about how MySpace, Facebook and the rest use a web page to let users send messages to each other. This makes using their pages as spam platforms far more difficult. Mail is problematic. The mechanism was designed in the seventies and has simply been 'fixed' for nearly forty years. Something else needs to happen.

Most places I go to for support have a web form to fill out that then adds the ticket to a queue internally. This is a good idea for all mail. If I receive an 'email', when I reply to that message, it should take me straight to a web page that is on the recipient's server that accepts the message directly and verifies or filters it on the spot. Then allows the message through as needed.  This would cut the spammers off at the knees and force them to limit the sheer number of mails. That is the goal any way. I bet this would work.

Spammers make their money by sending out millions of mails at basically no cost and getting one or two suckers to respond. It is also a way to advertise that is unfortunately more and more received by mainstream companies as a legitimate method.. If you cut them down to ten thousand mails, they will have to work much harder to find those couple of suckers.

I have been so distraught by this in the past that I would have supported  a penny per email tax. I'm glad I've come to my senses since then. There are a tone of bad ideas for fixing spam. Most of them started out as good ideas, then the spammers caught up to the filters or whatever. The real solution is to force every one on the internet to register and obtain a permit to join the international community online. When someone messes up, they are off the internet. That idea really sucks, but it would work to put the breaks on spam and child porn. and any number of other unwelcome things. Who decides which things are unwelcome? Who decides the rules? Who enforces the rules? This solutions would not work either.