Fight Spam With Nolisting

An anonymous reader writes with the technique of Nolisting, which fights spam by specifying a primary MX that is always unavailable. The page is an extensive FAQ and how-to guide that addressed the objections I immediately came up with. From the article: "It has been observed that when a domain has both a primary (high priority, low number) and a secondary (low priority, high number) MX record configured in DNS, overall SMTP connections will decrease when the primary MX is unavailable. This decrease is unexpected because RFC 2821 (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) specifies that a client MUST try and retry each MX address in order, and SHOULD try at least two addresses. It turns out that nearly all violators of this specification exist for the purpose of sending spam or viruses. Nolisting takes advantage of this behavior by configuring a domain's primary MX record to use an IP address that does not have an active service listening on SMTP port 25. RFC-compliant clients will retry delivery to the secondary MX, which is configured to serve the role normally performed by the primary MX)."

funny

[User 956]

An anonymous reader writes with the technique of Nolisting, which fights spam by specifying a primary MX that is always unavailable.

Funny, I fight afternoon meeting schedulings in almost the same way. Just specify a primary time that's always unavailable.

This is bullshit!

[LibertineR]

How many solutions do we have to implement before Spam is outlawed? Why is this shit allowed to go on, stealing bandwidth and all?

There is more spam than penises needing enlargement, dammit!

I cant believe this is allowed to go on. How long did it take for callerID and no-call lists to get here? How long before we start putting these people in jail!

No more bandaids, lock these fuckers up!

buh

[bitspotter]

Set the primary MX to 127.0.0.1 . That should keep those buggers busy for a few days. Have fun with those feedback loops, sucka!

Of course, the same might be true of legitimate senders, as well.... ;p

OT - Re:funny

[proverbialcow]

Funny, I fight afternoon meeting schedulings in almost the same way. Just specify a primary time that's always unavailable.

When I worked overnights, I had a similar system.

Boss: We need to talk.
Me: Great. What night would you like to come in?
Boss: No, I mean you should stay late.
Me: But you don't come in until 9, and my shift ends at 7.
Boss: But it's important!
Me: Why is it always about your needs. Your need to have a meeting. Your need to get a decent night's sleep. What about my need not to sit around for two hours on the clock waiting for you to show up, surfing the web, all the while getting paid one-and-a-half my regular pa...okay, fine, you win.

Then, when I became the boss years later, I would always show up at the beginning of the night shift to talk to the employees, and then go to the bar. It made the employees feel noticed and made my superiors think I was motivated. Turns out my best defense against assholes like me is actually having been me.

Yep Funny

[keeboo]

Standard Smartass Form for Comments on SPAM

1. Please select format:
( ) In soviet Russia .... you! Kind of joke
(x) The same old form on spam subject we're tired to see here
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Re:Oblig.

[Triode]

You must be the fastest typist in the known universe...

We will later have to google: how to type a three page long sarcastic remark in such
time as to still be able to submit it to a /. posting and have it be first post.

You are commended, but for what we have no idea.

Re:Temporary Solution

[Frogbert]

Thats why we all have to keep wraps on this idea. Don't tell anyone. It's much like Usenet, don't talk about it and everyone in the know benefits.

Re:Oblig.

[geminidomino]

If you do business with clients who send $important_financial_information over inherently insecure and unreliable protocols, you have bigger problems than spam.

Re:Oblig.

[dangitman]

No. Email spam was unleashed upon the world by Hormel as a marketing strategy. People just weren't thinking about spam anymore - this has gotten the brand name firmly back in the public's mind. It also has huge kitsch appeal now. Especially as kids grow up who only know of email spam, not SPAM the spiced ham. They'll see SPAM at the supermarket - and say "Look! It's spam that's not spam. OMG! Physical spam! LOLzors, I must buy this to replenish energy lost by playing with my Wii!"

We salute you, Hormel marketing, our spam overlords.

Re:Oblig.

[shellbeach]

Fine in principal, not so fine if the non-compliant SMTP sender belongs to a client of yours sending a $important_financial_email.

No kidding - just look at the $important_financial_email from a non-compliant SMTP sender I got in my inbox this morning:

Dear Partner,

My name is Sgt James Clayton. I need your help in keeping the money that we moved from Ba'qubah in Iraq safe. We moved this money some months ago to a Security Company in Italy. You know the funds are legal and it is oil money. we want to move the funds from Italy now to a secure place or location. Can you provide that? The total amount is US$25 Million dollars in cash. This money is in cash and we want to move it to you as soon as possible. Mostly $100 dollar bill notes.Total of US$25 Million dollars. So your share for helping me is US$12.5 Million dollars.Will you help? The whole process is simple and straightforward. I am still in iraq and i will be discharged soon but no one knows when this War will be over. I dont want to take any chances of loosing the funds. That is why we must act now.We are sharing everything 50/50. This is a legitimate transaction. If you are interested, i willprovide you further details and instructions. Please keep this confidential. We can't affo
  rd more political problems. Can i trust you and will you help? Waiting for your urgent and positive response. Please send your full contact details so that i can reply you back asap. If you have any questions please feel free to ask, I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours Truly,

Sgt James Clayton.