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Declaring war on spam......
Apr. 26th, 2003 12:40 amIn the past few months, I feel like I have been deluged with spam. I certainly don't remember getting this many junk email messages in the past. I thought about building my own spam filter, but I never got around to it.
Last fall, I started using the "spam marking" service my ISP has. I don't know the name of the software, or the hueristic it uses, but it looks at many different criteria, such as if the message came through a blacklisted server, or if it contains certain key words or phrases in the subject and message body (like Viagra, HGH, XXX, [genitalia], and descrambler), salutations like "Dear Friend" (what kind of friend are you if you don't know my name? Sheesh!), whether my name appears in the "To:" line, etc. etc.
Each of the criteria is weighted, and summed up to give a total spam score. I can set the spam score threshold to any number I choose -- right now, it's set to 8. (The default is 5.) If the score of a message is below 8, it does nothing to the message. If it's 8 or above, it adds the word "*****SPAM*****" to the beginning of the subject. I can then set up a rule in my email client (I still use Eudora Light 3.0.6) that automagically moves messages with this word in the subject to my Trash folder. (Actually, it moves the messages to a folder called "Junk Mail", when I can then pull out the false positives, like lists I actually signed up for, and trash the rest.)
This past month, when I was away at FilKONtario, I began taking it a step further. I used my ISP's web-based email client (SqWebMail) to pre-screen messages, which copies the messages that were marked as spam to a trash folder. (I wish I had the option to move them to the trash folder instead.) Now I don't have to even download them to my PC anymore. Yay! That week, I think I trashed 800 messages, and allowed 200 to pass. My signal-to-noise ratio is too low -- too much noise and not enough signal.
Last fall, I started using the "spam marking" service my ISP has. I don't know the name of the software, or the hueristic it uses, but it looks at many different criteria, such as if the message came through a blacklisted server, or if it contains certain key words or phrases in the subject and message body (like Viagra, HGH, XXX, [genitalia], and descrambler), salutations like "Dear Friend" (what kind of friend are you if you don't know my name? Sheesh!), whether my name appears in the "To:" line, etc. etc.
Each of the criteria is weighted, and summed up to give a total spam score. I can set the spam score threshold to any number I choose -- right now, it's set to 8. (The default is 5.) If the score of a message is below 8, it does nothing to the message. If it's 8 or above, it adds the word "*****SPAM*****" to the beginning of the subject. I can then set up a rule in my email client (I still use Eudora Light 3.0.6) that automagically moves messages with this word in the subject to my Trash folder. (Actually, it moves the messages to a folder called "Junk Mail", when I can then pull out the false positives, like lists I actually signed up for, and trash the rest.)
This past month, when I was away at FilKONtario, I began taking it a step further. I used my ISP's web-based email client (SqWebMail) to pre-screen messages, which copies the messages that were marked as spam to a trash folder. (I wish I had the option to move them to the trash folder instead.) Now I don't have to even download them to my PC anymore. Yay! That week, I think I trashed 800 messages, and allowed 200 to pass. My signal-to-noise ratio is too low -- too much noise and not enough signal.
