ASP FormMail, Part IX

This post picks up where
the last post left off:

ASP FormMail, Part VIII

OK. Now I don't feel
so bad. I'm not the
only person out there
who has illusions about
SMTP authentication and
FormMail scripts:

Here are some links to
postings by people more
or less having the same
problem:

Formail with SMTP Authentication

Authentication for FormMail.asp

Here's the best page
that I've found so far
dealing with this issue.

Scroll down to the bottom
of the page.

There you will find the
following points being
made about SMTP
authentication

I'll paraphrase:

1. In many cases, SMTP
   authentication is not required
2. If the SMTP server itself
   is local, you may not need
   SMTP authentication
3. If the mail is being
   sent to a local mail box,
   you may not need SMTP
   authentication
4. Both the SMTP
   server and the email
   recipient should be local
   to avoid having to
   use SMTP authentication
5. Since the above conditions
   are so common, it is also
   very common for FormMail
   programs in general to
   not provide an obvious
   means for SMTP authentication

I've taken some liberties
in paraphrasing what is
being said on this page.

Basically, though, it seems
that not using SMTP
authentication on a FormMail
program is normal.

The more I think about it, the
more sense this makes to me.

No web hosting provider wants
to be responsible for email
sent to a third party.

Since, potentially, the email
address of the recipent could
be a third party, providing
SMTP authentication opens up
a can of worms that I've not
thought of before.

OK. I accept the facts now.

Not providing SMTP authentication
is normal when it comes to FormMail
programs.

Here's a nice comment about this:

PHPMailer Comment

By the way. Here's a FormMail
program that does support
SMTP authentication. It is
PHPMailer, mentioned in the
previous comment:

PHPMailer


I start my investigation into
ASP FormMail here:

ASP FormMail, Part I


Ed Abbott