Catchall domains accept any mail to any email address at that domain. They were quite common, particularly at smaller domains, a long time ago. For various reasons, most of them having to do with spammers, they’re less common now. Most folks think catchall domains are only used for spamtraps. As a consequence, many of the address verification tools will filter out, or recommend filtering...
Just yesterday a group of delivery folks were discussing email verification services over IRC. We were talking about the pros and cons, when we’d suggest using them, when we wouldn’t, which ones we’ve worked with and what our experiences have been. I’ve been contemplating writing up some of my thoughts about verification services but it’s a post I wanted to spend...
Another person has written another blog post talking about their experiences with an email address a lot of people add to mailing lists without actually owning the email address. In this case the address isn’t a person’s name, but is rather just what happens when you type across rows on they keyboard. These are similar suggestions to those I (and others) have made in the past. It all...
Collecting email addresses at point of sale is a challenge. Some stores collect the addresses electronically, where the clerk or the customer types addresses directly into the register. Smaller stores, however, typically collect addresses on a sheet of paper at the cash register. Eventually someone takes the list and types it into whatever contact management system the store maintains. There are...
One of the ongoing discussions in the email space is the one about address verification. Multiple companies have sprung up to do “real time” email address verification. They ensure that addresses collected at the point of sale are valid. But what does valid mean? In most of these contexts, valid means that the addresses don’t bounce and aren’t spam traps. And that is one...
In the comments on my Address Verification in Real Time Ken asks: are there any legal issues in doing a large number of bulk SMTP transactions where you would connect issue say 20 RCPT TO commands to verify the user then send a RSET and QUIT. Immediatley connect again and do another 20 RCPT TO’s etc… If you had say 250 thousand email addresses all pointing to the same MX record that would be you...
Al throws in his own two cents on the question of real time address validation.
In a recent discussion about spamtraps and address lists and data collection a participant commented, “[E]very site should be utilizing a real-time email address hygiene and correction service on the front end.” He went on to explain that real time hygiene prevents undeliverable addresses and spamtraps and all sorts of list problems. I was skeptical to say the least. Yes, there are...
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