Possibly stupid question, but why not stop e-mail spam in the same way we do IMs?

I don’t see how I could ever get spam-messages from, e.g. an xmpp account. Worst-case scenario is that I get a bunch of ‘subscription’ requests, and I can only add friends when I trawl through the requests, or if I know they’re adding a request at the time, then look out for that request.

Emails seem to let everything in, with a reliance on the admin to sort this out. Why not do the same thing?

Specifically, I’m thinking of writing a script:

  1. If this person’s in my contact-list, they’re cool.
  2. If they’re on the shit-list, they’re deleted.
  3. If not, they get into the ‘waiting room’.

… then set up a shortcut to put someone on the shit-list. So there’s no more ‘you’ve got mail’ notifications from random spammers, and I can review it once a week or so to pull the good-guys out.

Seems like a good idea, but then I wondered, why hasn’t this been done before? If the script works, it seems like someone could do the same thing with a GUI.

  • Muad'Dibber@lemmygrad.ml
    1·
    2 years ago

    Not sure how xmpp works with message requests, but many IM systems like matrix, you have to Accept the message from the other person, IE the waiting room approach. Email (like real mail) doesn’t have that concept.

    • pescetarian
      2·
      2 years ago

      Does it have or has no one been doing it seriously?! By creating a filter from whom does the email come!? Like in messengers…