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SPAM REDUCTION FAQ
Table of Contents:
What is Spam?
What does your service do
with the SPAM
Does this service quarantine
the SPAM?
How does the
system decide what is SPAM and what is not?
How accurate is your system?
How do I set up my email program to filter out the marked messages?
Can I create my own rules?
Can I
just have the SPAM deleted before it goes to my inbox?
A SPAM message got through. What can I do to stop this message from coming
through?
An email from one of my mailing lists has been marked as SPAM. How can I stop
this from being tagged?
How do I
change the default settings for my whole domain?
How are default settings applied?
How do
I adjust the settings for a specific user/email address?
One user in my domain doesn't want their email filtered. Can I exempt one
address?
Does the system send
a notice to the SPAM sender?
Is the ISP of the spammer notified that they have a spammer using their network?
Does your
system do content (adult material) filtering?
The Answers
What is Spam?
Spam is a nickname given to bulk email trying to sell you something. Other
terms include Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE) or Unsolicited Bulk Email
(UBE). The nickname SPAM originates from the famous Monty Python SPAM skit.
SPAM is a registered trademark of Hormel Foods Corporation.
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What does your service do
with the SPAM?
Once the system determines that the message is most likely SPAM, it will
tag the email using either X-headers or by adding *****SPAM***** to the
subject line letting you know that it is SPAM. This allows email client
programs to apply rules to the incoming message to delete the message or move
it to a junk mail folder for later review. Messages with exceedingly
high scores may be discarded to reduce the burden on the Internet.
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Does this service quarantine
the SPAM?
No. It is a waste of time to have to open a web browser, login, and
review your SPAM online when a simple rule in your email program can keep the
SPAM out of your way and make it much easier to review by simply opening a
folder. Spam reduction services should reduce the amount of wasted time,
not increase it!
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How does
the system decide what is SPAM and what is not?
Incoming messages run a gamut of over 250 tests to determine what is SPAM
and what is not. Each rule has a score, either a positive value for
SPAM-ish tests and negative value for non-SPAM-ish characteristics. The
higher the score, the more likely the message is SPAM. The system can
also "learn" what may or may not be SPAM by watching the emails that come
through and training on emails with very high or very low scores. A
special "Bayesian Classifier" looks at key areas of the messages and assigns a
probability of being SPAM which then adds/subtracts from the score. If
the score is above the score threshold, the email is tagged as SPAM.
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How accurate is your system?
The service starts out near 90% effective and gets better as it learns from
your emails! Current levels are over 97%.
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How do I set up my email program to filter out the marked messages?
Instructions for Outlook 2002 are available
here
Can I create my own rules?
At this time there are no user-definable rules.
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Can I
just have the SPAM deleted before it goes to my inbox?
No. False positives are a possibility and it would be unwise just to
turf everything. By setting rules in your client, you have much better
control over any mistakes the system may make. That being said, there
may be an option to discard high-scoring emails coming in the future.
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A SPAM message got through. What can I do to stop this message from coming
through?
There are 2 actions to take:
- You can add the email address of spammers to the black list in the control
panel under "Reject Mail From" in the "add rules" section.
- Train your Bayesian database to recognize the message as SPAM by using the
footer link or by entering the special header X-Filter-ID: which will have a
value like: 0xB04B10E64B2B11DBB0A08EAF28E2B2ED. This number can be
copied and pasted into the control panel and trained.
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An email from one of my mailing lists has been marked as SPAM. How can I stop
this from being tagged?
You can add the email address of your mailing lists and other addresses
that are not SPAM in the control panel under "Accept Mail From".
Addresses in this list will pass through without being marked as SPAM. As
above you can train the Bayesian filter to recognize the emails as non-SPAM
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How do I
change the default settings for my whole domain?
As the domain administrator, you will see a user named "@somedomain.com"
where somedomain.com is the name of your domain. When you edit the
settings for that account you are creating the default settings for you
domain. Please note that individual settings such as score will override
the domain settings. see below.
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How are default settings applied?
The settings made here will override the global system defaults and the
user settings will override the domain defaults. The allow and deny
lists will actually add together as opposed to override creating a more
comprehensive list.
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How
do I adjust the settings for a specific user/email address?
As the domain administrator you can create "accounts" for each email
address. Once created, you can set any of the settings independently of
the domain or other users.
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One user in my domain doesn't want their email filtered. Can I exempt one
address?
As the domain administrator you will have an extra field in the "@somedomain.com"
account called "Accept Mail Sent To:". Addresses placed in this list will
not have their email tagged as SPAM even if it scores above the threshold.
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Does the system
send a notice to the SPAM sender?
No. Actually finding the true originator of a SPAM email is almost
impossible as spammers use fake or random user accounts. Sending
messages back to a bogus or innocent email user contributes to wasted
bandwidth on the Internet.
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Is the ISP of the spammer notified that they have a spammer using their network?
No. It is difficult to ascertain the true origin of the SPAM in many
cases and it clogs the Internet's arteries with yet more mail! That said, if you can figure out the source, go get 'em!
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Does your
system do content (adult material) filtering?
Many adult themes are tagged, the systems is not designed to specifically
deal with that content.
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