I agree that filtering content on words like "joke" is a waste of time, but
filtering in general can be very valuable. We quarantine all messages that
come with .EXE, .COM, .PIF, .VBS and other file attachments. We also
quarantine messages with the infamous "It takes guts to say [God's kid]"
(<--didn't want to filter my own message) because we had too many users
chain mailing virus hoaxes all over the place.
The trick to effective content filtering, IMHO, is choosing meaningful words
and phrases to filter (like "Britny S*ears") and not just automatically
bouncing things if there is some question about it. There are very few
words that will automatically bounce a message in our filter - but there are
several dozen phrases that will...almost all of them exclusively used by
spammers, porno ads and virus hoaxes.
We'd love to filter on "Bankruptcy" or "Debt" but unfortunately we have
clients that need to use those words on occasion. So we put up with a
hundred "Get out of Debt fast!" spam messages a day.
I don't have enough fingers to count the number of copies of SIRCAM and
other little nasties that get caught in our filters every week -- that many
fewer panic calls from users that I have to field. And it's really quite
nice to see the "Death Valley" folder with 248 messages offering us cheap
insurance or the latest fake Britny porn video -- those messages never
having made it to anybody's mailbox and quickly dispatched with just a
couple of keystrokes.
But filtering just on the word "Joke" is stupid, IMHO.
-Ben-
Ben M. Schorr, MVP-Outlook, CNA, MCPx3
Director of Information Services
Damon Key Leong Kupchak Hastert
http://www.hawaiilawyer.com
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Scharff, Chris [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2001 2:07 AM
> To: Exchange Discussions
> Subject: RE: Rejected Message
>
>
> Amazing... This is why content filtering is a waste of time.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ed Crowley
> To: Exchange Discussions
> Sent: 9/10/2001 8:36 PM
> Subject: FW: Rejected Message
>
> For your amusement. Of course the admin whose system does
> this won't get this.
>
> Ed Crowley MCSE+Internet MVP
> Tech Consultant
> Compaq Computer Corporation (soon to be HP)
> All your base are belong to us.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Monday,
> September 10, 2001 3:27 PM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Rejected Message
>
>
> The attached mail message has been rejected for the following reason:
>
> Body contains word(s)/phrase(s) 'joke'
>
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