Enhancing Sponsor Account Email Integrity and Controls

Subject: Improving Sponsor Account Reliability, Email Validation, and Abuse Prevention

In today's environment, the sponsor accounts section in eDirectory requires urgent attention and modernization to meet the increasing challenges of fake and low-quality signups. The current system lacks critical tools to validate, verify, and manage sponsor email addresses reliably, resulting in a growing number of:

• Fake or malformed email addresses

• Disposable or temporary email accounts

• Custom domain email addresses with no valid MX records (i.e., cannot receive emails)

• Accounts using emails that become unreachable after signup

Why This Matters

1. Damages Email Reputation & Deliverability
   Sending to invalid or undeliverable email addresses harms the domain’s sending reputation. This can cause email delivery problems with legitimate customers and increase the risk of blacklisting. A simple DNS MX record check can mitigate this issue — example: DNS MX Lookup Tool

2. Increased Costs for SMTP Relays
   If you’re using a paid SMTP relay, sending emails to disposable or unmanaged email addresses becomes an unnecessary expense. Worse, these accounts—originally meant to be a sales asset—turn into a liability, adding overhead and consuming resources.

3. Security & Abuse Risk
   Fake accounts may be used to game the system or abuse platform functionality. A stricter verification process is needed to protect the directory's integrity and reputation.

Suggested Features and Enhancements

To improve email reliability and reduce abuse, I propose the following updates to the Sponsor Accounts system:

Email Verification & Filtering Improvements

1. MX Record Check at Signup and Email Update

   • Automatically verify that the sponsor's email domain has valid MX records.

   • If not, block signup or flag the account as “Email Not Deliverable.”

   • Option to disable account if the email becomes unreachable after signup.

2. Disposable Email Blocklist Integration

   • Use a frequently updated list of disposable domains (such as the GitHub blocklist) to block common throwaway services. Over 4,500 listed and gowning.

   • This list should auto-update weekly.

   • Enable custom blocklists for directory owners to add domains or addresses manually.

3. Two-Factor Email Verification or Signup Code

   • Require a one-time verification code before account creation or before first login.

   • Prevents fake email addresses from completing the registration process.

Sponsor Account Management Enhancements

4. Disable/Freeze Email Sending for Specific Accounts

   • Admins should be able to disable email sending for selected sponsor accounts.

   • Prevents bounces and reputation damage from flagged addresses.

5. Disable with Reason Selection

   • When disabling an account, present a dropdown menu of reasons (e.g., invalid email, abuse, bounced emails, etc.).

6. User-Facing Account Disabled Page

   • When a disabled sponsor logs in, show a page with the reason for suspension and a link to a form for account reactivation review.

7. Blacklist Functionality (Email & Domain)

   • Ability to block individual email addresses or entire domains from creating new sponsor accounts.

   • Protects the platform from repeated abuse by users hosting their own mail servers with fake accounts.

Outcome & Benefits

These features will:

• Reduce spam and fraudulent account creation

• Improve email deliverability and sender reputation

• Lower operating costs for SMTP services

• Empower directory owners with better control

• Ensure business owners using eDirectory are represented professionally and reliably

We all want to build a reliable, professional, and secure business directory platform. These improvements would go a long way in ensuring quality user accounts and safer communication for all involved.

I appreciate your time and hope this proposal receives serious consideration.

Warm regards,
Aaron B