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Delicious Irony
Page 1 of 1 
Blame the Users, Not the Tool
8/1/2002 12:18:48 AM
Posted By: Stephanie Loyola

I agree with most of this, but there's too much blame on SpamAssassin. SA is a _tool_, and any tool can be used properly or improperly. As it comes, SA does not delete or bounce any mail; it "merely" assigns a "possible spam" score to each message. It is up to the system administrator to "do something" with that mail when a certain threshhold is reached. "Viagra" may be worth 2 points, "porn" 2, etc. Once it hits X points, it's tagged as possible spam. If an admin decides that ">7 means we trash it", that's a _misuse_ of the tool. Worse, many users have no idea that their ISP are using -- or misusing -- this tool. They should be made aware that mail they _want_ is getting deleted along with mail they don't want.

Randy, your www.SpamPrimer.com site is great, as is your "This is True" column, which I've subscribed to for years. Kudos -- it's the perfect column for us newsjunkies! :-D
Ironic Indeed
7/31/2002 10:49:47 PM
Posted By: Randy Cassingham

I track the bounces for my paid subscriptions and often see bounce reasons -- "dirty" words (medical terms) are the most amusing. I think companies should be able to filter anything they want, but to just have it dumped in the trash is foolish (such as Steve's posting of his column to his editor). E-mail is "mission critical" for MANY sites, so to have it simply disappear is idiotic. I have lots of filters on my site, and bounce LOTS of spam -- but the key here is BOUNCE -- I don't just trash it. My "Contact" page contains a password for readers sending legitimate mail with "banned" stuff in it to get around my filters if necessary.

The bottom line: people who get lots of spam are victims. The fight against it is creating more victims. "Where is the outrage?"
Page 1 of 1 
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