op NUMBER NUMBER NUMBER NUMBER NUMBER schreef ellen clary ellen dgi com then there is a third possibility instead of returning a NUMBER code indicating you re on to the spammer fake a NUMBER NUMBER NUMBER response which is saying mailbox does not exist this would be in the hopes that some spammers out there actually remove names reported as non existent from their lists i know a slim hope but even if only a few do it can lower the incidence they don t i can guarantee that quite a few spamtraps nowadays operate by NUMBERnn ing for NUMBER months in the hope of getting legit mailers to remove bouncing addrs from lists then after NUMBER months they just spamtrap all incoming mail to those addrs unfortunately a lot of legit mailers don t bother cleaning their lists either most spammers don t check reply codes at all they just send out as many mails as their system will hold without checking for any confirmation a trick to lower spam reception was dicussed on the postfix mailing list some time ago answer all incoming mail with a NUMBERxx temporary error code when it is offered the first time and accept it the second time apparently most mass emailers don t even try to deliver a second time this URL email is sponsored by thinkgeek welcome to geek heaven URL _______________________________________________ spamassassin talk mailing list spamassassin talk URL URL 