Spam in SMTP not via SMTP

abe+blog@deuxchevaux.org (Axel Beckert) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:50:54 +0100

While examining the mail queue after a big mail server migration, I found the following reason for a bounce (hostnames replaced according to RFC2606):

550-5.1.1 - 
550-5.1.1 -
550-5.1.1 TO LEARN WHY YOUR EMAIL WAS REJECTED PLEASE GO HERE: 
550-5.1.1 - 
550-5.1.1 http://www.example.com/answers/dWtsb3R0b3NAdWtsb3R0ZXJ5LmNvLnVrPgA=AAA=/
550-5.1.1 - 
550-5.1.1 Cheap, Reliable Webhosting
550-5.1.1 http://www.example.com/a/hostgator/
550-5.1.1 -
550-5.1.1 Round-Trip Flights under $200 from Priceline!
550-5.1.1 http://www.example.com/a/pricelinertf/
550-5.1.1 -
550-5.1.1 Free Skype-to-Skype calls on your mobile
550-5.1.1 http://www.example.com/a/skype/
550-5.1.1 -
550 5.1.1 -

What’s next? Advertisements in HTTP headers? Oh, I forgot, they already exist and are called “referrer spam”.

e-mail.is-not-s.ms

abe+blog@deuxchevaux.org (Axel Beckert) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 18:30:22 +0100

When I first read http://two.sentenc.es/ in (if I remember correctly) madduck’s signature, I thought something like “This can’t be! Why are people castrating themself?”

Although I really understand that the inventor has good reasons for such a personal policy, I notice how much time I waste by trying to fit all the information I want to transmit in the 160 characters a short messages allows — or, even worse, into the 140 characters microblogging services like identi.ca or Twitter allow.

So I had to oppose something to this, but even to only reach the coolness level of the domain “sentenc.es” is hard, you probably can’t top it at all. For luck, I’m not alone and Venty had the right idea for a hostname which has at least some geeky niveau.

So here it is, our pleading for e-mails as long and detailed as necessary:

http://e-mail.is-not-s.ms/

A German version will be available soon at http://e-mail.ist-nicht-s.ms/.

Feel free to add either URL to your e-mail signature. :-)

Oh, and thanks to the Government of Montserrat which allows strangers to register .ms domains without any hassles. :-)

Update / FAQ

Seems to be necessary to make a few things clear…

No, I do not think that everyone using two.sentenc.es has neither style nor knows anything about grammar or punctuation. What I say is that the site two.sentenc.es itself with its comparision to short messages (and especially without reading the author’s blog post about the site’s background) indirectly suggests to drop grammar, punctuation and style by cramming all information into a limit number of characters as often done with short messages or microblogging. And the limitation in senctences leads to tapeworm sentences which I try to avoid since they’re considered bad style, too.
And yes, it’s consciously written and designed to be the opposite of two.sentenc.es — even the colors ~~and the font~~ — and therefore is of course very close to the original. See it as it parody or satire if the closeness makes you angry.
And no, I currently don’t care if the site makes less sense if you don’t know two.sentenc.es — people usually can follow hyperlinks on websites.
We weren’t the first ones who noticed that e-mail is not SMS. An example of the problem described above from 2001.

Blogging is futile

Spam in SMTP not via SMTP

e-mail.is-not-s.ms

Update / FAQ