creating "blackhole" account

[squonk@]

Is it valid to create a user without an actual mailbox and then make aliases of any defunct accounts to this ghost account? Will it cause the server or qmail any problems for messages to constantly come at it with nowhere to go?

We have email accounts that are no longer valid. These accounts receive a good bit of spam and I was hoping to stop all the bouncing back and forth for these now invalid accounts. I'm just unsure if all that junk "dissolves away" or if it somehow bogs things down.

I'd also like to know if creating doublebounce settings are recommended and the best step-by-step method for doing it if so.

thanks!

 

[eWebtricity]

We've been bouncing all the invalid emails sent to our customer domains and have seen no impact to the server resources from it.

 

[squonk@]

thanks for the reply. I realize I can let them bounce, but since the bouce would go to some bogus spammer address it just means that yet another message will get sent to tell us that the bounce bounced. That seems like a waste of resources and bandwidth to me.

I thought if I set up an account that doesn't actually have a mailbox, then instead of sending those spammers any response at all, their message would just "disappear". I just want to make sure I don't end up "confusing" my mail server by doing so.

thanks!

 

[alex042]

You could just create a catchall and set spam settings very restrict so most mail gets deleted.

 

[tandberg]

if you have no longer valid adresses just edit your dot qmail file .. bouncing spam eats bandwidth and is useless. edit the file and use a "|/bin/true" in it.

The best solution for outdated accounts.

 

[squonk@]

Thanks for the replies and suggestions. I need to learn about it, but I see that 7.5 has a reject option that might do the trick as well.