Don't block senders from HELD MAIL

--VQ-- · Site Admin Joined: 06 Jan 2003 Posts: 480

Don't Block Senders from Held Mail!

Your can release or delete messages from Held Mail, but resist the temptation to block every address that you do not admit! Vanquish will delete the temporary entries on this list automatically. Blocking spammers from this screen is not a useful countermeasure and has unintended consequences:

Spammers change address - even their IP address - every few minutes. Blocking won't stop them
The spammer may be using a fraudulent address - even one from your own address book
As your Block list grows into thousands, it needlessly slows your incoming mail
The Block list becomes difficult to inspect for the few addresses that ought to be added
If you inadvertently block a legitimate sender - even his subsequent confirmation will be blocked

Instead of blocking every spam address, let unrecognized senders confirm their sending address for you. Your email experience remains fast, because the anti-spam work is transferred from your PC to our servers. Although the held mail list will grow a bit longer, in very short order you will notice that fewer desirable messages are held up. After a few weeks, most Vanquish users don't even check their Held Mail unless they are searching for a specific anticipated message. Instead of scanning the entire list, they press CTRL-F for a quick text search.

So when is it proper to use the Block feature? It is useful when you find it difficult to get off a mailing list that you no longer desire to receive (or a list that has subsequently become abused by many departments at the same organization). For example, I once signed up for a mailing with the publisher CMP.COM. After 1/2 year, I was receiving mail from a dozen other departments. Because they are a legitimate publisher with whom I have a relationship and because I had "opted in", I now tried "opting out". But each time the volume would reduce to 50% and then rapidly grow to 150%! By blocking the mail server (or alternatively, the entire domain), I could avoid dealing with all of the junk. Even better, Vanquish permits me to ALLOW the original individual address from which my newsletter comes while blocking either the rest of the department or the entire domain!! (Neat, eh)?