Auto-reply software

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From: Ann Barcomb
Subject: Auto-reply software
Date: 11:52 on 10 Jun 2004
I hate auto-reply software with senseless defaults which is then used
by people without a clue.


Today I'm getting mails from the vacation program of someone I don't
know.  People who are sending something to a mailinglist generally
don't care if someone else on the list whom they they have never spoken
to is on vacation.

Vacation programs should not reply to mailinglist traffic.

Vacation programs should also keep some kind of log of people who have
been notified about this vacation.  A reply once every 24-hours or so
per person is quite enough; I don't need a reply for every single email.


I also got mail from a spam-blocking program that expects me to verify
the letter before the address can be approved.  Do your own whitelist
work--the letter was sent by an automated script in response to the
user making a request in a webform.

Let's see...how difficult would it be for the spamer to parse this
message and automate the correct response?  I think I could do it in
15 minutes.  On the other hand, why am I going to bother to do this
so that someone can receive information he or she request?

I guess it's a spam filter in the sense that it collects the spam
for you, and gives it to you without the distractions of real mail.


Then there was one of those mails informing me that I have sent
a virus.  This is some of the worst spam, because the anti-virus
companies are just trying to tell you how great their software is.
They know as well as I do that the email address is spoofed.


Horrible applications, horrible default configurations, horrible people
using them.

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