what is going on?

[Sunnyjohn]

This is what Mixture said:

On the system I and numerous others in the world are using, if correctly configured, you get zero false positives and very few misses.

(my emphasis)
Once again I can only speak for my system but I have an ordinary POP account. However, my online mail client does allow me to configure my filters. Maybe I am lucky in having a very good mail server for the Mac in the form of MacAce, but I can assure you that MacAce is one of the most popular and most-used systems, used by ordinary Mac users like me and, I repeat, I am easily able to configure filters - it comes with the package. Yes, Mixture can be acerbic, but he has helped me and a lot of others on these forums and I suggest you try to read what he is saying before throwing it back at him.

[mixture]

, if correctly configured,

Indeed. Those words were put there with purpose. Not simply for padding.

I have seen the effects of people implementing overly aggressive anti-spam configurations.

You have to spend a couple of months monitoring the system and tweaking it for your own purposes... you can't just copy paste configurations you've found on the internet. Which is where most people go wrong and are then surprised when they get a whole load of false positives which is only down to their own stupidity.

However, once correctly tweaked during the initial setup, it runs very well indeed. As I said, I use it and I know many other companies around the world who use it (and with whom I have absolutely no relationship, I just know they use the same setup), and I trust it sufficiently that I don't operate the quarantine functionality.

[Mac the Knife]

MacAce - "Our advanced spam filtering system is fully customisable on a per-account basis. It’s a fully loaded defence system that can perform over 500 tests on each and every incoming email for you - including SPF, sender confirm, auto-whitelists and endless manual filtering options. We provide 5 default one-click settings so that filtering can be customised to suit your needs - or indeed turned off completely. It’s about control, we understand that everybody likes their email and spam treated differently and so there are over 50 advanced settings too."

Very few ISPs offer spam filtering on a per-account basis (as I pointed out) - I only wish that more of them did!

IF MWeb provided this facility then I would use it rather than Mailwasher - though since MW only downloads the headers it isn't that big a deal.

[mixture]

Very few ISPs offer spam filtering on a per-account basis (as I pointed out) - I only wish that more of them did!

You miss the point !

Per-account is as pointless as client-side, you miss a whole load of filtering opportunities.

ISPs should offer better spam filtering.

That is the point I am trying to make (with an implied suggestion that people perhaps shop around for either different ISPs or somewhere else to host their email where proper filtering does take place).

e.g. Gmail.... which I gather is pretty good since the Postini acquisition.

[Mac the Knife]

Oooooh....facepalm!

No, you miss the point - my ISP (MWeb) are pretty good at pre-deleting real spam but that still leaves a lot of unwanted non-spam garbage that I have no interest in.

But as I have tried so very hard to explain, there is no way that MWeb can know that I do not wish to receive my patient Mrs McGuire's frequent observations on her health (unless they are psychic!) [or for that matter the latest bulletins from Solarwinds, The University of Cape Town, Oracle or Ubuntu].

The only way I can pre-delete this sort of unwanted stuff directly from the MWeb mailserver, before it hits my mail-client inbox at home, is by using an application such as Mailwasher (and it works very well).

Evidently we are talking at cross-purposes here and it is getting late, so I suggest that we both wish the other a cordial goodnight.

Sleep tight!

Mac

[BOAC]

Back to Pop's problem? Pop, forward one of the spams to me and I'll see if I can find the origin.

[mixture]

Evidently we are talking at cross-purposes here and it is getting late, so I suggest that we both wish the other a cordial goodnight.

Indeed I think this thread is indeed drifting, and perhaps needs to be left to RIP.

[FullOppositeRudder]

One needs to check the anti-spam facility at your ISP from time to time. Very occasionally I have discovered important emails in the ISP trap which, by any measure of human reason should have been passed on without so much as a blip. A couple of times this has been quite serious and important information has been delayed. (My ISP consistently has one of the highest customer satisfaction ratings in the country).

I have also used Mailwasher almost from the time it was first released. I consider it to be an essential part of my internet software - even though it may be a last resort from a technical aspect.

[llondel]

and perhaps needs to be left to RIP

But Routeing Information Protocol is nothing to do with SMTP mail content...

[PPRuNe Pop]

Well, I have been using Mail Washer since it was suggested and so far my spam has reduced by more than half. As time goes on I suspect, as Mac says, that the problem will be much smaller - maybe even disappear.

Thank you.

PPP

[Heathrow Harry]

when the Nigerian 419 scams started I used to pass them on to the City of London Fraud Squad - at their request - after a couple of years they called off monitoring them as a) there were so many b) everyone was aware of them

best was when I had an email supposedly from a Prince Eze - as my company had actually dealt with the man himself (and there is a whole book to be written about THAT) I mentioned this to the law - and received back a rather amusing but scurrilous limerick on the subject......

[mixture]

when the Nigerian 419 scams started I used to pass them on to the City of London Fraud Squad - at their request - after a couple of years they called off monitoring them as a) there were so many b) everyone was aware of them

I believe the Met Police took over that role and you can still email them..... whether much action is taken is another question.