On Thu, Nov 09, 2006 at 07:01:33PM +0000, Ian Eiloart wrote: > > > --On 9 November 2006 18:28:10 +0000 Chris Lightfoot <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > >On Thu, Nov 09, 2006 at 06:05:28PM +0000, Ian Eiloart wrote: > >>--On 9 November 2006 17:28:07 +0000 Chris Lightfoot > >><[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > [...] > >>> If a user decides a piece of mail is spam, it's spam (if > >>> they change their decision then obviously the most recent > >>> decision holds). > >> > >>Ah, well by this definition, a human can never make a wrong decision, > >>just a decision that they might later revise. > > > >yes, that's kind of the point -- it's a bit futile for the > >machine to try to tell the user what kind of email they do > >or don't want. the flow of information is the other way > >around, and the best the machine can do is to make the > >same decisions that the user would if presented with the > >mail. > > Oh, FFS. > > You said humans never made errors. Well, they do. They do accidentally > delete messages they wouldn't want to, when they're buried in spam. That's > why spam filtering is desirable. And, actually a machine can do it better, > in the case where a user gets a lot of spam.
there's a distinction between random errors and actual errors of classification. obviously there is a random error rate for both human and machine classification of mail. however, there are also systematic errors. a person will not make systematic errors of this kind in classifying spam (by definition -- if they decide that they want a certain mail, then they did, end of story). spam filters do. no matter how often you tell somebody that (say) the fact that a mail came through an IP which is on a `black list' or that it contains a cid:... type image reference means that it is spam, they will not change their minds if the message in question is one they actually wanted to receive. -- ``Started with a knife, then degenerated to a hacksaw, then a hammer and eventually a very big hammer. Suffice to say, I don't think they are in any way user serviceable.'' (Chris King, on electric toothbrush repair) -- ## List details at http://www.exim.org/mailman/listinfo/exim-users ## Exim details at http://www.exim.org/ ## Please use the Wiki with this list - http://www.exim.org/eximwiki/
