Mailblocks replacement (aliases)

[jtodd939]

the end of Mailblocks is such a bummer. There were 3 things I LOVED about Mailblocks.

1. the clean (spread out with open space) easy to use interface, including: when opening and replying to emails a new window in which to type when created, The LogOut tab was always in the upper most right corner of the window (no hunting to find it), the Send button was always the first button on the left above the message, it had a nice neutral professional gray color with alternately highlighted lines making it easy to identify lines of email messages, Tracker (alias) folder were all highlighted in a different color from stock folders like Inbox, Drafts, Sent, etc., it goes on and on.

2. the Trackers (aliases). They gave us a good handful of trackers on a basic account. Not just like 4 or 5.

3. the challenge/response method of defeating spam and use of the Pending folder. I've never had better spam control before.


Does anyone know of a replacement that offers aliases (trackers) and has a similar ease of use design? Of course I would like to see challenge/response spam control again too.

[s a]

 
break-ups are always difficult - only time will soothe the pain.

I don't know any "exact" replacements but the closest feature set to what you describe is available at Aliencamel.com.

Another excellent Challenge-Response provider is Mailsnare.net (weird fact: they do not have a pending folder so you don't see pending email unless it is confirmed by the sender).

The Challenge-Response system does not lessen the burden of spam but merely passes it on to your correspondents. A far better method of dealing with spam is to use finely tuned spam filters as offered by FastMail.FM and Tuffmail.com. Both these services have excellent spam filters and allow you to tune your filters using "sieve scripts". This can take a while to get right but is worth the effort since the filters are trained to deal with the spam you receive (as opposed to generic spam messages).

[aleinss]

Tuffmail has unlimited aliases. I'm trying to get the Bayesian filter to work there...has anyone used it? Do I just put spam in the SPAM folder and ham in the HAM folder to train it? Does it have to be in these two folders forever?

[Mendi]

Mailblocks -> SpamArrest?

I had the same dilemna...I loved Mailblcocks' challenge response system and helped a lot of my friends/family sign up because they also had a simple user interface. Everyone was extremely happy until they received an email that the service was discontinuing...I've been setting them up with Spam Arrest and so far so good.

I believe they are the only company that legally obtained a license for the Mailblocks technology (see http://www.spamarrest.com/pr/releases/20040813.jsp):

Regular Link:
http://spamarrest.com/

Here's my affiliate link (I would get credit for any sign-ups):
[Admin: affiliate link deleted - not allowed in here]

Either way, there is a free 6 month trial (no credit card required). Their annual price is $34.95 and inlcudes 1GB and is POP & IMAP compatible.

Hope this helps!

[jfinlayson]

Originally posted by s a
I don't know any "exact" replacements but the closest feature set to what you describe is available at Aliencamel.com.

We looked at them, because they appeared on a list of email service providers that support challenge/response. Turns out that they don't. They support whitelists, but no C/R.

Aliencamel's approach is to deliver only whitelisted mail to the Inbox, sending everything else to the equivalent of Mailblocks' "Pending" folder. But they rank the contents of that folder, using SpamAssassin and Bayesian algorithms, so the incoming email that's less likely to be spam floats to the top.

As you are concerned about imposing a burden on potential challengees, you'll recognize that this is a more courteous approach. It does make more work for you, since you have to fish through the spam folder yourself a lot more than you would have with C/R, but that task is presumably made less noxious by their ranking tools.

[nbarr]

Originally posted by aleinss
Tuffmail has unlimited aliases. I'm trying to get the Bayesian filter to work there...has anyone used it? Do I just put spam in the SPAM folder and ham in the HAM folder to train it? Does it have to be in these two folders forever?

Yes, just put the Spam into the SPAM folder and Ham into the HAM folder.
The mail you put into those two folders will be automatically removed by the system after it trains itself. You will also receive an email from the system confirming your actions.
The Bayesian Classifier is extremely effective in my experience.

[nevada 777]

Originally posted by jtodd939
the end of Mailblocks is such a bummer.

Does anyone know of a replacement that offers aliases (trackers) and has a similar ease of use design? Of course I would like to see challenge/response spam control again too.

Yes you might want to check out Mail-Block.com, I have used them for sometime, both on their ISP 695online and now just their email service. I was using this service before I ever heard about Phil Goldman and Mailblocks.