How prevalent is the silent "t"

Alice Faber faber at HASKINS.YALE.EDU
Thu Jun 14 03:07:46 UTC 2007


Agreed. If I'm remembering correctly from when I had to subscribe with a
revised email address, an actual subscription request isn't complete
until the subscriber replies to the confirmation email. It would be easy
for me to attempt to subscribe jharbeck at sympatico.ca (to pick a random
example!) to any mailing list. But when James receives the confirmation
email, if he doesn't recognize it as coming from a mailing list he
wanted to sign up for, all he has to do is NOTHING, i.e., not respond at
all. As a result, I've only caused him minor annoyance, and haven't been
able to fill his mailbox with stuff he didn't want.

Dave Hause wrote:
> Possible but unlikely.  Some years ago I learned more than I wanted to know
> about how the listserv software worked and to subscribe somebody else, you
> would have to either be able to send from their account, send "from" them
> (something MS Outlook permits, typically done by secretaries), or spoof
> their return address.
> Dave
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "James Harbeck" <jharbeck at SYMPATICO.CA>
> To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2007 11:09 PM
> Subject: Re: How prevalent is the silent "t"
>
>
>> Is it possible that they are being maliciously subscribed by other parties?
>
> Not very flattering to us to think it would be malicious to the
> subscribees... But if malicious to us, well, I'm sure there could be
> someone(s) lurking on the list who collect email addresses of
> particularly crusty and dull sorts and subscribe them just to throw a
> bobcat in the swimming pool. I was wondering about that earlier today.
>
> James Harbeck.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


--
 =============================================================================
Alice Faber
faber at haskins.yale.edu
Haskins Laboratories                                  tel: (203)
865-6163 x258
New Haven, CT 06511 USA                                     fax (203)
865-8963

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



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