I don't do the learning thing.
http://www.midcoast.com/help/email/spam.html is how we explain it to
users.
On Wed, May 03, 2006 at 12:53:57PM -0400, Brent Kennedy wrote:
> I am trying my best to explain to a non-technical person how spamassassin
> works. The other issue I have is that I am trying to explain to them why
> they need to drag mail to a public folder so the server can learn it as
> spam. They say they are doing it but they get the message several times a
> day.. Again.. I need to explain in laymans terms why they might get the same
> message again a few more times until the server learns it.
>
> My best layman explanations are below, please critique them, as I am having
> trouble making a layman understand.
>
>
> Here is my explanation for how spamassassin works(laymans terms):
>
> 1. Email comes into the mail server from the internet
> 2. Once the server has received the email, it then scans the email and
> compares it to a list of rules. Every time a rule is matched, the server
> adds points to the email.
> 3. When the server completes the scan of the email, it takes the total
> number of points assigned to that email and compares that point value with
> the maximum allowed points. If the point value is over the maximum the
> server marks the message as spam.
> 4. if the server marks the email as spam, the email is forwarded to the
> quarantine mailbox, if its marked as spam, the email is forwarded to the
> intended recipient.
>
>
> Here is my explanation for how spamassassin learns email as spam(laymans
> terms):
>
> 1. Users receive the junk email
> 2. The users who received the junk email drags and drops the email to the
> spammail public folder in outlook
> 3. Spamassassin connects to the internal email server and downloads the
> email from the spammail public folder.
> 4. After the email is downloaded, the mail is scanned, the different aspects
> of the email are noted and point rules inside the spamassassin engine are
> updated(raised) based on the number of instances a rule is found in emails
> from the spammail public folder.
>
>
> Any help would be appreciated(thanks).
>
> -Brent
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Jason Philbrook | Midcoast Internet Solutions - Internet Access,
KB1IOJ | Hosting, and TCP-IP Networks for Midcoast Maine
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