elusion has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Monks, this may be off subject, and I apologize. I don't think there is a better place to put it. I need an smtp server that I can use. If anybody knows of a place that allows you to use their server I would really appreciate it if they told me. Thanks for your help.

- p u n k k i d
"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." -Albert Einstein

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Re: An SMTP Server
by Dominus (Parson) on Nov 25, 2000 at 20:04 UTC
    Next time you get spam, look in the header for Received: lines. It is likely that one of the hosts mentioned there will be an open SMTP server. If the spammers were able to use it for spam, chances are you will be able to use it also.

[reply]

      While grabbing an address out of some SPAM might work, there are two major issues to think about here.

      1. What if the server is being used for the SPAM without permission? This is often the case, and, in some cases, use in this way can be illegal. Which would make anyone using the server in an unauthorized manner liable. i.e. punkkid could be liable as well.

      2. Since there is no way to know why or where or who this server belongs to and for what purpose it is open, it would not make a very reliable production solution. It could be closed without warning at any time. Also, there could be strange configurations you would have no way of knowing about. It may silently send all your messages to /dev/null and never report an error. You'd only know when it didn't work and then you would not know why.

      Unfortunately, there is not much on the constructive side I can say aside from contact your ISP. Most ISPs, even the major ones, offer some form of SMTP services. Albeit they can be very limited, if all you want to do is send some mail you should be fine.

      You may also want to look at some previous nodes on similar topics like: An SMTP server in Perl and Another MIME::Lite/Net::SMTP Question which both have some info you may find valuable. 

      <myExperience>
$mostLanguages = 'Designed for engineers by engineers.';
$perl          = 'Designed for people who speak by a linguist.';
</myExperience>

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[d/l]
        Thank you for your help, but I've already looked into both of those solutions. I have a cable modem with a wacky setup, so the smtp server doesn't work. Also, I couldn't get the SMTP server in Perl to work. I didn't post without looking. I've searched for a couple hours. But thank you for your time, and for all the people who voted me --. :)

        - p u n k k i d
        "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." -Albert Einstein

[reply]
      just make sure the person you're sending the message to isn't using the RBL or another SPAM-oriented mail blacklist.
[reply]
      Damn the ethics Gridley, Full SPAM ahead! =)

      --
      $you = new YOU;
      honk() if $you->love(perl)

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