Spam Filters Catches the wrong things
Jeffinputnam
not written filters for and that I've never clicked on as SPAM. I've
tried clearing the SPAM cache but nothing is working. It's a pain. Any
clues?
J
goodwin
> The SPAM filters on TB are catching items that are not SPAM
you have to tell TB that these are not spam - it happens and is part of
training baysian filters
that I've not written filters for and that I've never clicked on as SPAM.
It isn't necessary for there to be filters for TB to mark mail as spam
nor is it necessary for you to click mail for it to be viewed as spam by TB.
I've tried clearing the SPAM cache but nothing is working.
I'm not familiar with spam cache - never heard of it.
But sounds like you may want to go to Prefs>privacy>junk off your
toolbar (under tools) and click the "reset training data" box.
This should start you off at day 1 again. Any good mail being marked as
spam should be /unmarked/ as spam. If these are individuals with
regular correspondence, add them to your address book.
Got to Account settings>junk settings (under tools) and set filters to
accept mail from anyone in the address book. While thee, look over
other settings which you may want to change.
It's a pain. Any
> clues?
>
> J
What kind of mail is being junked? Any earthly reason TB would think it
junk?
KristleBawl
Have you been marking non-spam messages as "Not Spam", too, or have you
only been marking the spam? The spam filter needs to know what is and
*isn't* spam to effectively work for you.
Learn more about Junk Mail Controls
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Junk_Mail_Controls
--
KristleBawl
Jeffinputnam
None that I can think of. The senders are in my address book, I have no
filters set to say they are junk, I've often reset the training data and
I've never marked them as junk and the problem is mostly coming from my
primary account so I've turned off adaptive junk control for that
account and see if it makes a difference. This all remains a mystery.
J
Greywolf
All filters will report false positives. You can tell TB "this is not a
scam", etc, as described by another poster, and this will help some.
However, sooner or later good stuff will be labelled as evil, and evil
as good stuff. Nothing you can do about it. All filters work on strings,
not on the meanings or intentions of the writer.
About the only thing you can do is avoid using phrases or words that
spammers use, and hope your correspondents do the same. ISP's use spam
filters, too, and many mails are "lost" because we use the most obvious
words in our subject lines. But so do spammers.
EG: phishing spam often asks you to "confirm" some account details, so
most spam filters will dump a mail with "confirm" in its subject line.
My wife found an e-mail from a supplier in her on-line junk folder,
which she accessed only because we were travelling. The supplier wanted
her to confirm a detail about an item she'd ordered. This e-mail would
not have shown up at home, because the ISP's server (== web mail portal)
offers only the Inbox to an external client.
Cheers,
wolf k.
goodwin
> The senders are in my address book, I have no filters set to say they
> are junk, I've often reset the training data and I've never marked
> them as junk and the problem is mostly coming from my primary account
> so I've turned off adaptive junk control for that account and see if
> it makes a difference. This all remains a mystery.
>
Indeed. Couple passages from the kb:
/*
The mail.adaptivefilters.junk_threshold preference is a threshold used
to determine when messages are classified as junk. It defaults to 90 in
version 1.5.0.4. Lowering this value will make it easier to recognize
messages as spam, though it increases the risk that it will classify a
legitimate message as spam. This might be useful if you get spam
messages that it seems to have a tough time learning about. For example,
messages that look like text but are actually clickable images.
You can change the preference using Tools -> Options -> Advanced ->
General -> Config Editor. Enter junk in the Filter field to show only
the preferences that contain junk in their name, and then double-click
on mail.adaptivefilters.junk_threshold, enter a value lower than the
default 90 in the edit field and press the OK button. Many users report
good results with values of 30 or lower.
*/
increasing this number /may/ do something, though that would still leave
a question.
If you have "trust SpamAssassin" set, check the offending emails for
headers set by another ISP.
/*
Tools -> Junk Mail Controls has a setting to tell Thunderbird to trust
junk mail headers set by either SpamPal or SpamAssassin. The order of
processing is:
1. Message filters
2. "Trust header"
3. "Adaptive junk" (junk mail controls)
Some email providers customize the headers added by SpamAssassin, or
modify the subject prefix. This can cause the junk mail controls to
ignore the information. "Trust header" is actually a standard message
filter, stored in a isp subdirectory in the Thunderbird program
directory. Thunderbird checks whether either X-Spam-Status: or
X-Spam-Flag: begins with Yes, or the subject begins with ***SPAM***. If
you run into this problem backup the SpamAssassin.sfd file and then
change what it tests for using a text editor (not a word processor).
There is also a SpamPal.sfd file.
Some users have reported that the trust SpamAssassin option sometimes
ignores the junk mail headers in Thunderbird 2.x. Its not clear whether
you can workaround this bug by disabling the option and adding the
appropriate message filter.
jg
Jeffinputnam
That's a lot to wade through but it gives me many places to start.
Thanks,
J