Setting up a catch-all account

[schizoid]

I would like to setup a catch-all account on my domain name.

I saw http://apisnetworks.com/resources.php?cid=9&id=5, but I do not seem to have a catch-all alias set up.

The only alias I had was site_blackhole which was being forwarded to /dev/null. I tried setting it to my main account, but that didn't work. I deleted it (trying to undo my change) and now I can't seem to create it again. I hope it wasn't too important, eh?

I also tried creating an alias with the name catch_all and picking my main account, but again, that didn't seem to do anything.

So right now my account doesn't have any aliases.

Sorry, I am stupid.

[Matt]

Generally it's not a good idea to go against the grain with server-wide changes. Catch-alls cause a lot of problems whether you designate an internal address or forward to an external address. Unless you want me to go into all of the specifics of what makes them bad, just know that creating an individual alias that you use as an e-mail address is a much better and safer option.

[schizoid]

I'm sorry, can you explain what you mean? I use catch-alls for all my domains and they have never caused much of a problem for me. I get a few odd pieces of spam I probably wouldn't otherwise but that is a minor issue for me. Is there something else I am missing?

What do you mean by an individual alias?

When ever I have to give out an email address, I usually make it specific to that company or person so I know where it came from. If I ever start getting spam at that address I can simply block it (create a real account for that name and then pre-date the account expiration).

For all I know this is creating huge trouble for my mail server host but it has always worked fine and no one has complained about it :o.

Sorry, I am not trying to be rude. I honestly don't know why this is a bad idea. I am not a tech guy, I just write checks.

[Matt]

Sorry about the delay, things have been very hectic around here especially with trying to get the next version of the One-click Framework out by this weekend. If you want to make a catch-all, the alias should be named, "catch-all". As for why the list of arguments against it is taking quite a while to compile, let's just say the last personalized one that I wrote up spanned roughly two pages. Even that didn't contain all of the reasons against a catch-all. Outline version:

Problems:
- the event of joe-job attack cripples server
- inbound and outbound filtering scan every e-mail, wasted CPU cycles better allocated elsewhere
- no genuine way to discourage spammers from using that address (EXITCODE=67 won't work due to DSN)
- site_blackhole doesn't halt the flow of spam from a particular spammer thus you can never get off their spam list, you will always receive spam to that fictitious address
- for external forwards: other mail servers play hot-potato with mail; the last mail server to handle a spam is labeled as a spammer (blacklisted), as a result hotmail, AOL, comcast, and google just to name a few either block or delay the flow of mail to their servers for all customers on the affected server
- not future-proof, switching data centers in early '07 and possibly MTAs

I'll expound upon those issues at a later date, but just know for now you shouldn't ever setup a catch-all. They're useful if you move hosting providers and want to ensure you recreated all the e-mail addresses used with your previous account. Again it's safer and easier to manage if you create an alias for each e-mail address you want to use via the Aliases tab. If you want "foobar@mydomain.com" to be a valid e-mail address for the account "user", add a new alias named "foobar" and point it to the user "user" via the Aliases section of the control panel.