For my IMAP mail account my e-mail host has setup Spamassassin to be
automatically trained by using a 'spam-to-learn' and 'ham-to-learn' IMAP
folders for my mailbox on the server. I had assiduously been moving
messages not already marked as [SPAM] by Spamassassin into the
'spam-to-learn' folder. I had thought that the 'ham-to-learn' folder was
for messages which Spamassassin had marked as [SPAM] but which really
were not spam, so considering these were very few I had moved almost no
messages into my 'ham-to-learn' folder.
Very little changes have happened in Spamassassin's ability to mark
messages as [SPAM], despite the fact that my messages on this mailbox
run at least 30-1 'spam'-normal and I get about 250 messages a day.
Spamassassin was only marking maybe 5% of my total spam messages as
spam. I then asked my mailbox host why Spamassassin was not catching
more spam and he told me that until Spamassassin has processed at least
200 messages from both the 'spam-to-learn' and 'ham-to-learn' folders,
it does very little to pick up spam messages.
Is this true ? Am I supposed to be putting copies of messages which
Spamassassin has not marked as spam and which are not spam into my
'ham-to-learn' folder, as opposed to messages which Spamassassin has
erroneously marked as spam ?
Even in the latter case, I have so few messages sent to this mailbox
which are not spam that it will take up a few weeks to get 200+ messages
processed by Spamassassin in the 'ham-to-learn' folder. Until that time
Spamassassin will continue to not mark spam as such. Is this the normal
way in which Spamassassin works or is my mail host incorrect ?
- Training Spamassassin Edward Diener
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