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Once again the question of effective filtering of spam has come up and
once again people have made suggestions which simply do not work. A "bozo
bin" doesn't work because spammers most likely move to a different address
before you even check your mail and read the message. All they do is provide
an extra filter that needs to be run and virtually nil chance of catching
anyone.
Filters on subjects or on pseudo-techincal means also fail because they
generate false positives, are ineffective (maake monie know!), and can block
legit users for dubious return.
So, without futher buildup, here's the system that I put to this list back
in January. Let me know that in that time I had instituted that filter on my
home account and was catching 2-3 spam a day and cannot recall a single
positive hit /aside/ from when I started a new list and hadn't gotten a
message in from it yet to set up the filtering.
In another message in a related thread I noted that I had once figured out
hit hit/miss/false positive hit ratio on my mail. Something like 99.95% hit,
.001% false positive with the remainder, .049%, being spam getting through to
my inbox. That was over several years of using that system on PMMail on an
account that was spammed heavily and on which I got in excess of 500 messages
per day.
Frankly, this should be a FAQ.
===================Original message text===============
From: Steve Lamb <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Fred Weissman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Monday, January 10, 2000, 11:10:57 AM
Subject: TheBat and Spam
Monday, January 10, 2000, 9:57:35 AM, Fred wrote:
> little while. Today, this quote caught my eye. Can you tell me about
> your spam system? Where can I find the specifics for it? Will it in
> fact do what tracer asks (i.e. dump mail which has sender=receiver)?
No, it doesn't do that. However, it doesn't have to. Allie recently sent
a message out that described it so you might have it. If not, here's the
short version.
The two basic premises are this:
1: Nearly every spammer BCCs.
2: People get mail from two sources, directly addressed to them from
individuals they know or mass mailed (BCC) mailing lists they signed up for.
Instead of trying to filter spam, we're going to define a set of rules to
filter everything but spam.
So, we set up a series of filters. The first batch filters out all the
mailing lists that the individual is on. Most people do this anyway. Once
they filter it, it stops.
The second series of filters catches mail from individuals who /may/ BCC
the person. Friends, family, loved ones, work colleagues, etc.
The next to last filter stops filtering on anything which is directly
addressed to the individual.
The last filter moves everything that wasn't caught by the above filters
into a spam folder for the person to double check for something that might
have been missed and final deletion.
Another way to put it is like this... If it isn't a mailing list, from
friends/relatives or directly addressed to you, chances are high that it is
spam.
In tracer's case, if sender = recipient chances are it isn't on a mailing
list he is on, it isn't from someone he expects to BCC him, and, clearly, it
isn't from him. It will be filtered.
- --
Steve C. Lamb | I'm your priest, I'm your shrink, I'm your
ICQ: 5107343 | main connection to the switchboard of souls.
- -------------------------------+---------------------------------------------
================End of original message text===========
- --
Steve C. Lamb | I'm your priest, I'm your shrink, I'm your
ICQ: 5107343 | main connection to the switchboard of souls.
- -------------------------------+---------------------------------------------
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