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Self Moderation in the Age of Spam and Malware (AKA approving messages)

Self Moderation means you approve your own message to the Mailing List.

Why would I have to approve my own message?

Your email address may have been spoofed. The message looks like it came from you, but it really did not.

Even though someone may have spoofed your email address, they likely do not have access to read your incoming email. This is why we might ask you to approve your own message. If you don't recognize it, then someone is spoofing your email.

How does Mail-List.com know a message may be spoofed?

We look for clues that a message was not sent by you. Two things we review are:

  • SPF - This is an Internet protocol where your provider has specified which IP addresses your email should be sent from.
  • DKIM - This is an Internet protocol that tries to prove your email message was not altered after you sent it.

If either of these protocols is questionable, we will ask you to confirm the message.

What happens if you think my message is spoofed?

We hold the email while our system asks you to approve or decline.

We send you an email message with a special Subject Line and Serial Number. The Subject Line will look similar to this:

Please reply to release your mailing list message (no. 15867908319260r)

How do I approve?

Simply reply to the message, and it will be released to the Mailing List.

There is no need to type anything into the body of the email. Our system uses the serial number in the Subject Line to find and release the held email.

Will this happen in the future?

Possibly.

It depends which protocol was in question. For some protocols, we will not ask you to approve again for a period of several months.