Question for Geeks
Are SMTP messages the cockroaches of the Internet?
1. There are lots of them
2. They multiply exponentially
3. They have been around for a very long time (in Internet years)
4. They are extraordinarily resilient
/al
PS since are readership is global, I want to ensure that everyone is aware of which cockroach we are talking about: Periplaneta Americana (American Cockroach). Below is a picture of an adult female
There are other cockroaches (like the German Cockroach and the Madagascar Hissing Roach which makes for an adorable hissing pet for other people). But they are not the topic of this discussion.
SMTP messages are the ants. IM messages and Twitters are the cockroaches
Sharon
13 Dec 08 at 10:44 am
You can only stretch a metaphor so far… the cockroaches indeed multiply exponentially but in order to exterminate spam you need to take down the control center of the botnets that send them. There is no similar central control center for cockroaches, they are independent and truly decentralized.
Funny enough, because of spam, SMTP has become LESS resilient. In the good old naive days of the Internet, all MTAs either delivered your message or sent back an NDR – a Non Delivery Response. These days a lot of them don’t, not unless they know you – because the message they receive might be spam and the envelope sender may be fake.
– Arik
arikb
13 Dec 08 at 4:00 pm