No implementation for shlwapi.dll.0(StrRetToBufA)

[David Elliott]

Ove Kaaven wrote:

> On Sat, 10 Feb 2001, Francois Gouget wrote:
>
> >    Sure they have the right to deny me access to their mail server, but
> > to imply that I'm only allowed to connect to my ISP's mail server is
> > bullshit.
>
> Exactly why? You *should* use your ISP's mail server, that's what it's
> there for. Anything else is inefficient and plain stupid. You've found one
> of the reasons it's stupid - another is that if the target mailserver is
> unreachable for the moment, it's better to let the ISP's mailserver try
> again for the usual 5 days than to sit dialed up yourself for 5 days. Yet
> another reason would be that since your ISP generally has more bandwidth
> than your own dialup connection, both SMTP connections are less likely to
> time out and cause unnecessary retries, delays, and traffic.
>

That is most definitely correct.

>
> >    Well, I cannot tell you that you should switch to another ISP, it
> > would be too easy for me and hypocritical as I'm not sure I would do it
> > if I were in your situation. I'll see if I can send them a complaint
> > email (without it getting bounced).
>
> Maybe *you* should switch to another ISP, one that is able to educate
> their users properly.

That's kind of harsh, but yeah, you should definitely be going through your
ISPs mail server if you have a dialup.  Personally I run my own, but I have a
cable modem and @Home uses bad mailservers which crash all the time.  If
I had a dial-up I would most definitely go through my ISPs mail-server.

I also filter mail with all of the MAPS list and my own threats to spammers.
It has been very effective, reducing my spam to a few per week which
I usually forward to the admins of the mail servers or connections involved.
Lately I have been kind of lax about that figuring a few per week is not
bad.  Apparently the spammers have a black-list of their own.  Report enough
of them to ISPs and you won't get more spam because they don't want to deal
with your shit anymore. ;-).  Still doesn't help those who don't have the
knowledge to effectively report spam, but it has reduced my spam very nicely.

-Dave