Does email testing software stand a chance against today's servers?

July 16, 2015 12:32 PM

I have been using mailtester.com for several years. It still confirms the mail server. But "server doesn't allow email verification" seems to be the case pretty consistently now. I assume this is some kind of adjustment, or filtering, in the server that has become SOP? Can you recommend a worthwhile email address validator?
posted by John Borrowman to Computers & Internet (3 answers total)

Best answer: Turning off VRFY/EXPN on mail servers has been fairly standard anti-spam practice for years. The best way to verify an email address is to send a verification email to it, but your requirements may differ from the norm.
posted by rhizome at 12:57 PM on July 16, 2015

Best answer: Seconding that this is best handled by actually sending an email that verifies the user (e.g. with a verification link, or by having the user reply to the email). Otherwise you're just guessing; generally mail server administrators care enough about their users' privacy to make it difficult to verify a user exists on their system without the user's knowledge.
posted by Aleyn at 3:35 PM on July 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

Haven't tried this one yet, but it sounds like a newer service: Kickbox.io
posted by doctordrey at 12:04 PM on July 17, 2015