allow only senders approved beforehand

[johnsmolowe]

i get lots and lots of spam. i like the service earthlink offers to delay the message with the message "To control spam, I now allow incoming messages only from senders I have approved beforehand. If you would like to be added to my list of approved senders, please fill out the short request form."

but i really don't want to go through the hassle of changing my isp and notifying all my contacts, personal and professional. i use macmail with attyahoo as my isp and am reasonably satisfied otherwise. is there any 3rd party software that will allow me to allow only approved senders in the fashion earthlink offers?

 

[symphonix]

I don't see why you should need any third party software to do this. Simply add the approved email addresses to your Address Book in a group called "Approved", then in Mail go into Prefrences -> Rules and click "Add Rule".

The first condition is "If sender is not a member of group" "Approved" then you might move the mail to a folder called "Spam" and also set the action to "Reply to Message" and enter the appropriate reply to message text.

A second filter could be used to detect if the sender is sendin through the form you're describing.

HOWEVER I think this idea is very badly thought out. It is never wise to respond to spam emails: it only serves to prove to them that your address is valid, and gets you added to still more spammer's lists. Instead, its best to filter out the spam emails into a seperate folder, and check this folder weekly to be sure it is working as designed.