On Thu, Sep 15, 2022 at 7:34 AM Patrick O'Callaghan pocallaghan@gmail.com wrote:
1. Not getting a read receipt cannot be interpreted as meaning the
receiver has not read the message. They might have turned receipts off.
- Getting a read receipt cannot be interpreted as meaning that the receiver did read the message (let alone understood it).
To sum up: read receipts are a misfeature, except in the special case of internal mail where they are part of corporate policy.
In the good old days when SPAM started we were advised to disable read receipts for external mail because it would advertise that the address was valid. Whenever I set up a new email client I send a test message to check that the address works and is not sending read receipts. I
SPAM I see now often has an address for bounces -- I've wondered about generating bounce replied to SPAM (in addition to forwarding the message to "abuse@<internet giant>.com"). Firefox lets you set read receipt handling for 3 categories: messages with your address in the "To" or "Cc", "Sender outside your domain", or "other cases". I have all set to "ask" and very rarely get asked. I do get SPAM messages with phony "From" addresses using the domain of one email service I use.