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Web-Based Emailers That Allow an Access List?

Posted by Cliff on from the I-want-mail-from-these-addresses-ONLY dept.

claud9999 asks: "Are there any web-based e-mail services that would limit receiving e-mail from a list of specified addresses (bouncing all other e-mails that aren't from that list)? At first I thought someone like Yahoo would filter SPAM simply as a matter of managing liability and space consumption but they almost seem to encourage spammers as my yahoo account generates the bulk of the spam that I receive." It seems like this would be a fairly easy thing to implement, I mean, how difficult would it be to stick a web interface in front of procmail? Does your e-mail web-based service do this? Maybe it's time to start sending some polite emails encouraging them to do so, if they aren't.

11 comments

  1. Certainly not Hotmail by Goldberg's+Pants · · Score: 1
    While they have spam protection, it's bloody useless and doesn't actually seem to work at all.

    The problem is, all the free web based email services, to provide what you want would take them extra time, and since very few people want it (hell, very few people probably even realise it's possible) they'll never do it. Law of diminishing returns and all that.

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  2. Yahoo and Bulk Mail by Kris_J · · Score: 2
    Yahoo have a bulk mail filter but if you retrieve your email via POP3 you get the bulk along with the real messages. I'd really like an option that simply blackholes anything Yahoo identifies as bulk -- it's been running for at least a year and I'm happy that it doesn't trap legitimate stuff. Anyone found an option somewhere to auto-nuke bulk mail on Yahoo?

    Meanwhile, I'm using Spamcop again. I'm surprised how much of an effect it has on new, incoming spam. My theory is that every time you shut down a spammer quickly it takes them that much more time to start spamming again...

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    1. Re:Yahoo and Bulk Mail by Stormie · · Score: 2

      Meanwhile, I'm using Spamcop again. I'm surprised how much of an effect it has on new, incoming spam.

      Hmm, after seeing this post from you, I decided to go have a look at Spamcop. Does this thing actually work? I fed it a few spams from my mailbox and it got them all wrong, deciding that the appropriate person to flame would be the administrator of MY company's mailserver!

      These weren't complicated forgeries or anything, just simple spams with three Received lines:

      • Received from (our main corporate mailserver) by (my local office mailserver)
      • Received from (open relay) by (our main corporate mailserver)
      • Received from (spammer with forged hostname but real IP) by (open relay)

      In every case, it decided to "ignore" the second line, treat the third one as a forgery, and simply declare that (my local office mailserver) was being spammed by (our main corporate mailserver) !!

      If it can't even cope with this, is Spamcop any use for dealing with any spams other than "loser bulkmailing straight from his dialup account" ?

      I mean, I want to like Spamcop, I think it's great that someone's trying to make it easier for non-geeks to get spammers spanked by their ISPs.. but if it's this broken, surely it's going to cause more harm than good??

    2. Re:Yahoo and Bulk Mail by shumacher · · Score: 1
      I've done things by hand in the past, and I now use Spamcop exclusively. It's just too easy to not use it. I've never had it pick on my ISP. Of course, I'm using large ISPs, so they could just be in some sort of database that blocks that sort of thing. I just wish I could make an Applescript to move all the source about and automate things.

      If you want to do things by hand, I've really enjoyed http://combat.uxn.com/. I still use it if I get a spam that raises my ire. It lets me make sure I've pestered anyone even remotely related to allowing the spam to exist.

    3. Re:Yahoo and Bulk Mail by Kris_J · · Score: 2
      I assume you gave it the full headers...

      I have found Spamcop to be spot-on every time. I've been using it on and off for years and I never get the "this person isn't using out servers" message back from the admins it complains to. In fact, I just got the following this morning;

      RE:[SpamCop (http://best99.hypermart.net /gb/guest.cgi?user=pers)
      Thanks for writing. I have removed the account and have banned the users email address from our network. I appreciate you notifying us of this violation and please let me know if you have any questions.
      As an aside, the only time I ever received spam to my work address was when the reception forwarded it, so maybe SpamCop's got it right ;)

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    4. Re:Yahoo and Bulk Mail by tpv · · Score: 1
      +1 for spamcop. All my publically advertised addresses forward to spamcop now, and I get a lot less spam.

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  3. I do it now. by kneecap · · Score: 2

    I use IMHO Webmail. one of the newer features is an interface to your .procmailrc file.

    IMHO (IMAP Mail HOst) runs on the Roxen web server. Some of the other features of IMHO are: ispell/aspell spell checking, multilingual interface and interface to edit .procmailrc & .forward files.

  4. Yahoo by Ratbert42 · · Score: 1

    Yahoo's mail does let you set up filters. They aren't too sophisticated, but if you have a short (

    1. Re:Yahoo by Ratbert42 · · Score: 1

      If there is a mistake, well, you should have used the Preview button!

      Yes I should have.

      Yahoo's mail does let you set up filters. They aren't too sophisticated, but if you have a short (<15) list of email addresses you want to receive mail from, they can handle it.

  5. Hotmail works if you know how to use it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

    I have had my Hotmail account for about three years now. They allow me to filter, block or set up an allow-only list. The only trick with Hotmail is to make sure that you're not listed in the member directory. This is (of course) the default setting and a pain in the a$$ to find after you register, but it works. J. };^>

  6. Spamcop... by houTTni · · Score: 1

    I vote for spamcop... it just too easy to send some "fresh spam" their way. Then again, I still vote for mercy killings.. bad drivers.. spammers..


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