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TimW · 15 Dec 2010, 01:41 AM

Here is more laundry list of Emailias feature I miss & wish Spamex &/or e4ward would implement.

I'll number them as a continuation of my earlier (11 Dec) post:

6) Retiring: I loved this feature. It worked like this:

When I started getting spam on an Emailias DEA, I would "Retire" it by replacing it with a different address. Emailias would then do 3 things for me:

1st they would stop forwarding any email to me from the former, compromised, address and would only forward things from the new address.

2nd, whenever anyone (real person or spammer) sent anything to that address, they would get a bounced email back to their inbox with a message such as

"This email address has been permenantly retired, probably due to spam. The party can be reached by clicking on this link."

Then there would be a session link for the person to click on which would take them to an intenet browser screen to verify themselves by entering the email address where they had received the link (i.e. their own address). Then they had to enter a CAPCHA code (a graphically altered letter/number code that a real person could read but a computer couldn't) &... VOILA... my replacement email address!!! Generally, real people respond to their email replys... spammers (with thousands or millions of bounced emails a day) generally don't.

3rd, these "retired" (vs deleated) addresses were structured in the form of a "retirement chain" so that no matter how many times I retired a given email address and it's replacement and it's replacement and it's replacement..., any REAL person who entered any of them would get my current email address for that chain!!

This feature REALLY helped me several times.

Now, how effective was it at stopping spammers?

1) For 90%+ it worked perfectly. I used it around 10 times (for specific DEAs) in the 4ish years I had Emailias. It worked GREAT!

2) For one of the several feedback email address off of my website a spammer followed the links and, each day, sent me spam on the replacement email address. After 4-5 times of this, I discontinued that particular feedback link. I suppose I could have reinstated the link on my website in a month or two, but I did not.
As I think back on this, I suppose the spammer could have just gone to that particular feature on my site everyday and sent from there without looking up the replacement address via Emailias at all. Just discontinuing the feedback feature altogether may have been what stopped them. In this case, the fact that I could install 5+ feedback links on my site (& had) because of DEAs saved me.

Anyway, I REALLY miss this "Retire" feature because it allowed real people to find me, even if I had retired their version of my email address - even several layers deep - while at the same time stopping virtually all spammers.

7) Ability to turn off forwarding for a DEA without bouncing the message. Emailias distinguished between 3 operational levels:

"ON" => normal forwarding email addrss,

"Off" => Valid, but not forwarding DEA. The email went off into the "Bit Bucket" and the sender would think you got it but you didn't have to read it. So, they would not stop sending you things and discontinue your account or send you snail mail saying your email address was no longer valid, etc.
This was very useful for merchants who sent regular promotional emails that I only periodically wanted to receive. For example Payless Shoe's "Buy One, Get One Half Off" 2x/yr sale. If I were looking for shoes for my children, I would turn my Payless Emailias "On", otherwise I kept it "Off". This would also be very useful for periodic or intermittant interest in an RSS or newsletter feed.

"DELETED" => This was permanently & irretrievably off & generated a bounced email message.

I'll write more as I remember/encounter them.[/quote]

Thanks for reading,

TimW

PS. Note on "2)" in my Dec 11th post: "...at least the ability to hide an unused disposable e-mail address."
I finally found this one, also in the "ListAddresses/View/{on/off}" feature. If I turn off the Spamex's that I don't want to see (and yes, I suspect they do bounce vs. just not forwarding), I don't see them in the {on} list.
This brings up the note on item "1)" regarding context sensitive help or at least an updated, customer responsive, FAQ. Emailias (read that "Paul") just included the help and item descriptions at the bottom of each input screen.

15 Dec 2010, 01:41 AM	#57
TimW Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Salt Lake City, UT Posts: 4	I loved & truely miss Emailias's "Retire" & other features Here is more laundry list of Emailias feature I miss & wish Spamex &/or e4ward would implement. I'll number them as a continuation of my earlier (11 Dec) post: 6) Retiring: I loved this feature. It worked like this: When I started getting spam on an Emailias DEA, I would "Retire" it by replacing it with a different address. Emailias would then do 3 things for me: 1st they would stop forwarding any email to me from the former, compromised, address and would only forward things from the new address. 2nd, whenever anyone (real person or spammer) sent anything to that address, they would get a bounced email back to their inbox with a message such as "This email address has been permenantly retired, probably due to spam. The party can be reached by clicking on this link." Then there would be a session link for the person to click on which would take them to an intenet browser screen to verify themselves by entering the email address where they had received the link (i.e. their own address). Then they had to enter a CAPCHA code (a graphically altered letter/number code that a real person could read but a computer couldn't) &... VOILA... my replacement email address!!! Generally, real people respond to their email replys... spammers (with thousands or millions of bounced emails a day) generally don't. 3rd, these "retired" (vs deleated) addresses were structured in the form of a "retirement chain" so that no matter how many times I retired a given email address and it's replacement and it's replacement and it's replacement..., any REAL person who entered any of them would get my current email address for that chain!! This feature REALLY helped me several times. Now, how effective was it at stopping spammers? 1) For 90%+ it worked perfectly. I used it around 10 times (for specific DEAs) in the 4ish years I had Emailias. It worked GREAT! 2) For one of the several feedback email address off of my website a spammer followed the links and, each day, sent me spam on the replacement email address. After 4-5 times of this, I discontinued that particular feedback link. I suppose I could have reinstated the link on my website in a month or two, but I did not. As I think back on this, I suppose the spammer could have just gone to that particular feature on my site everyday and sent from there without looking up the replacement address via Emailias at all. Just discontinuing the feedback feature altogether may have been what stopped them. In this case, the fact that I could install 5+ feedback links on my site (& had) because of DEAs saved me. Anyway, I REALLY miss this "Retire" feature because it allowed real people to find me, even if I had retired their version of my email address - even several layers deep - while at the same time stopping virtually all spammers. 7) Ability to turn off forwarding for a DEA without bouncing the message. Emailias distinguished between 3 operational levels: "ON" => normal forwarding email addrss, "Off" => Valid, but not forwarding DEA. The email went off into the "Bit Bucket" and the sender would think you got it but you didn't have to read it. So, they would not stop sending you things and discontinue your account or send you snail mail saying your email address was no longer valid, etc. This was very useful for merchants who sent regular promotional emails that I only periodically wanted to receive. For example Payless Shoe's "Buy One, Get One Half Off" 2x/yr sale. If I were looking for shoes for my children, I would turn my Payless Emailias "On", otherwise I kept it "Off". This would also be very useful for periodic or intermittant interest in an RSS or newsletter feed. "DELETED" => This was permanently & irretrievably off & generated a bounced email message. I'll write more as I remember/encounter them.[/quote] Thanks for reading, TimW PS. Note on "2)" in my Dec 11th post: "...at least the ability to hide an unused disposable e-mail address." I finally found this one, also in the "ListAddresses/View/{on/off}" feature. If I turn off the Spamex's that I don't want to see (and yes, I suspect they do bounce vs. just not forwarding), I don't see them in the {on} list. This brings up the note on item "1)" regarding context sensitive help or at least an updated, customer responsive, FAQ. Emailias (read that "Paul") just included the help and item descriptions at the bottom of each input screen.