Just received that, in reply to a mail I sent:
This email is from X.My email address (X@Y.com) is protected against spam and viruses by MailInBlack.
Please click on the following link in order to identify yourself to me and to allow your message to reach me.
http://192.168.0.252/v/?C8BEF10E72C&tmstp=20070316084314&tk=message_confirm&tkid=7951&lang=2This needs to be done only once, for this email and all future email correspondence.
Thank you for your understanding.
X
MailInBlack seems to be a french company. No wonder why they guarantee that 100% of spams are stopped. (To be fair, I am not sure yet of who fucked up, it might be the admin)
Did you try clicking it anyway? Maybe they know something you don’t. :-)
This is a useless way to beat spam. Even if the link really works, I’d never click it if I really sent the mail.
I might consider clicking the link if I got messages because someone faked my address though, just to annoy the recipient ;)
it’s not that stupid, just very limiting, only trusted users can email you.
what’s behind the link, what prevent a bot from clicking to be trusted by the receiver ?
All other brokenness aside, it’s a broken program that let’s an end user enter a worthless address. If the target audience are sysadmins it may be barely forgivable, but really – how hard is it to add such a convenience check in your program?
Have you thought about what happens if both, the sender and the recipient have this protection (and have not been identified before)? They could never write messages to each other because they block each other or it will lead to an email avalanche….
I have to say I’m confused.
Martijn: I’ve heard others say that they wouldn’t click it either. Why on earth wouldn’t you click it?
Shivan: A bot could of course click the link, but that would require the sender e-mail to be correct AND it would give you the sender’s IP address neither of which they would like very much.
Philip: That could easily be solved. If I sent you an e-mail you’d automatically be whitelisted so that you wouldn’t have to go through this authentication check first. Likewise, a confirmation e-mail from you would go straight through. Problem solved.