In e-mail, a probe message is a type of bounce
handling for e-mail address verification. It is
commonly used in subscription-based mailing lists
that easily become filled with invalid subscriber addresses. Once an e-mail has
bounced from a specific address, a system will wait a specific amount of time
then sends a warning message to the user. If the warning message bounces a probe
message is then sent. If this also bounces the subscriber is then removed from
the mailing list.
Maintaining a mailing list This Webmonkey Geek Talk column, from December 12, 1996, provides information on maintaining mailing lists, mail servers and links to popular mailing list maintenance software.
