>>>>>>>I don't aggree with you. May be he want to validate this mail address if it correct?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Does he really need to reply for validation ?
>>>>>
>>>>>Well, yes, if they've sent him an email and they get a response, they will know the e-mail is valid.
>>>>>
>>>>>Kev
>>>>
>>>>Hmm doesn't servers validate it before a reply does ?
>>>
>>>That validates that it's a working address, but an actively-used one requires a response, there are loads of registered e-mail addresses that aren't being used out there.
>>>
>>>Kev
>>
>>Not exactly true. What if I were on a vacation, would that invalidate my address. Active usage is somewhat relative.
>
>Yes but that doesn't really matter, an active address is an active address, if you send an e-mail to someone and get a response 3-months later, then someone is using it, regardless of how often.
>
>>Anyway for me it's paranoia. There are ways to get much more info about a person w/o asking him a single thing.
>
>But it's the things we hear about in this day and age that make us paranoid.
>
>Kev

Kevin,
One last thing about activity :) I (actually I don't mean myself but a good level hacker) could find out your email address and password if I only knew your host and track if you're using it or not, or even the content of your emails.
I wouldn't believe this if someone didn't showcase how to crack out user names and one way algorithm unix passwords ! And I saw it happen years ago with a tiny program on a unix terminal. It's a matter of security and hopefully nowadays security might not let it happen.
Cetin