Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2001 15:05:13 -0500 From: Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org> To: Sheldon Hearn <sheldonh@uunet.co.za> Cc: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Detecting mail client capabilities Message-ID: <15073.59385.956164.312837@guru.mired.org> In-Reply-To: <54218464@toto.iv>
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Sheldon Hearn <sheldonh@uunet.co.za> types: > Hi folks, > > I'm embarrassed to ask this, but the folks I'm doing some work for > insist that it's possible, so here goes... > > Is there teechnology available that allows one to determine what the > rendering capabilities of a customers e-mail client are without the > customer having explicitly sent one mail from that client? No. There isn't even a technology that allows you to determine those capabilities with having explicit mail. Many people read mail with more than one mail reader, so you can't rely on them reading the mail using the same agent they sent the mail with the first time. > My employer's confirmation process for their opt-in mailing list > requires the customer to click on a web URL within their mail message. > When they hit that URL, confirmation is registered. As Alex suggested, you can sniff the browser in the HTTP transaction. For a lot of people, that will tell you what their mail reader can do. On the other hand, it'll be wrong for some of them. > Please don't flame me too much. In my mind, this is impossible, but I > did undertake to confirm my suspicions. As I said, my employer insists > that this is possible, mostly because the company that handled their > mass-mailing for them before told them that this was part of the service > they were paying for. If you could be more explicit about this, it would help. Exactly what did the mass-mailing service provide? Given the ethics involved in the mass-mailing industry, I'd be interested in why you trusted any information from them. <mike -- Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org> http://www.mired.org/home/mwm/ Independent WWW/Perforce/FreeBSD/Unix consultant, email for more information. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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