First, some background. I'm using bluebottle.com as a Challenge/Response filter for correspondence with people who approach me via my public address - webmaster3@bluebottle.com (that’s right, no address obfuscation!). My regular POP email account fetches the mail from bluebottle.com so I never actually have to visit my bluebottle.com inbox. It just serves as a filter. This way, I can publish a real address without any obfuscation and without the fear of compromising my real email account.

Earlier today bluebottle.com announced that they're ending their free service. This leaves me with two options - pay up, or search for an alternative solution. I'm leaning towards the second option, but I prefer to avoid using my email because I have my websites hosted with Hostgator, and they will freak out and shut down all your websites over a single automated email. So using them for any kind of auto response is a really bad idea.

But I did have an idea if I could find a free email service that had an auto responder, and would also filter incoming email.

Here is my idea:

1. Create an email address and give it out.
2. send a reply to all email that says there must be a magic word in the subject line, like  "acceptme".
3. Create a filter that only delivers these emails to my in box.

this would be my own personal challenge/response email system.

so now I just have to find a email service that works that allows me to send out auto responses and also filters my email.

hmmm. just thought of a problem, once the person did put the magic word in the subject line then I would not want a auto response to the email, since that would be confusing, so it wouldn't work to just send out an auto response to all emails, because some of them would be the 2nd email with the correct subject line and those would need to be taken out first.

oh well, at this point it's looking like I may just go ahead and sign up for a bluebottle account after all.

June 12, 2008