verify contacts = less spam?

could you make outlook verify contacts? 
So everyone in my address book gets verified - and any new people get a message...please verify. this would be like in facebook..  but yes you will still get spam - you just build a trusted email mode.

default is - all emails - ask for verify.  as soon as you manually verify someone - it goes into another version of inbox that shows only real stuff.

*so yes you still have to check the crazy inbox every now and again - to look for new messages.. but in general - if you know you have all your friends and clients - in the trusted zone - youd mainly just use that

*im sure someone will say - you can do that now - but its not obvious that you can - it should maybe be set up to begin with plainly stating "this is the default anyone view...of all emails.  Every email was sent a request - with captcha - for verify.  all verified emails appear in yellow" etc..  and then you move them into your "real" zone

and  - (from before post) please please make anyone i already have in address book have green bars in recieved messages.. not the grey ones (=unknown)

*tired of going through 200 emails - all spam except for 8.

and last - please please make multiple selections draggable into junk email = BLOCKED  (not manually one by one)

edit: if played correctly - it could not only solve spam - but turn outlook into a -sort of- facebook?

edit 2: well that would be.. Outlook Explorer  (hybrid between the two)

And any challenge response system is only any good if the from line is not forged, otherwise it's just more spam!  Plus the response needs to be guaranteed to make it through the other systems spam filter.

I don't use Outlook at home. How would this work for me?

so...

- rip outlook out of office

- apply new ribbon team (ie )- to now free(from office) outlook

- to fill the hole in office - redefine office.  add all that new crazy crm, business solutions stuff into office.  = make it a new office.

- word, outlook could be de-valued to make blogging/facebook less important

- new things could fill the spaces? 

- close spaces and soapbox - integrate into Outlook Explorer

i dunno ..im getting confused now.. but i think there are ways to make outlook and ie = manage the web better than anyone else

...i still wish there was a "Control Panel" for all the sites/logins i use

I already have something like this with my ISP, they called it the 'Friends' system.

Basically, you setup rules that state messages with a suspected spam level are held on the mail server, while an automated email is sent to the sender asking them to click a link which proves their a human being (Bots don't click them, so that eliminates almost all spam). Once the recipient clicks the link, they are added to the safe senders list and any held messages from them are automatically added to the queue to be downloaded.

The system works great, and in the 4 years I've had it, I've never had a single spam email, plus it's easy to check held messages to manually allow if the sender is too lazy, but often they aren't. It also sends a log every month that states any held messages, so you don't have to check for held messages, it tells you when it happens, which is also great.

The needs of Business and Home users are totally different, and a "verify you are a real person" type of approach would not work for business. “Dear sir, I wish to buy a widget” --> “Dear Untrusted sender, please verify you are a real person before we speak to you” --> “Dear sir, thanks but I bought elsewhere”

Spam filters today area really crude and clunky, and all too often left in the hands of over-zealous technicians to apply their personal agendas with.

We recently found ourselves blocked by our major business partner (we are their customer) because someone had configured their filter to block entire IP address ranges when spam was encountered, which may cover multiple CIDR ranges.

Obviously a config mistake, but nevertheless, any time you need user intervention to manage the approval/block process, you can guarantee screwups or poorly thought out application.

We need a better system that allows senders to reliably and unobtrusively identify themselves as valid email senders who should be given the benefit of the doubt... and obviously there are a number of identity schemes being worked on.