Re: [MacPerl] Verifying email addresses

["Richard Johnson" <rdump@river.com>]

At 14:03 -0600 on 08/04/2000, Joseph Erickson wrote:
> Is there anyway to verify an email before sending a message out?  What I
> would like to do is get an email, like firstclown@yahoo.com, then ask the
> server yahoo.com if firstclown is a valid user name for email.
>
> This would really help me in checking emails before sending out subscriber
> lists.  You wouldn't believe how many people don't know their own email
> address.  If anyone else has had this problem, let me know how you handled
> it.


There is only one reliable way to do it.  At the time you gather the
address in the first place, require a handshake.  Send the address a unique
token with instructions to return the token only if the address owner
really means to sign up for whatever you're offering.  If the token is
returned, then you know both that the address is valid, and the owner
wasn't being spoofed by some vandal.


Richard



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