Bouncing legit mail

[guerrilla]

Since I don't see anyone else discussing this, I'll assume it's just me. But this week a number of clients and friends have begun receiving my Spam Assassin bounce notice. So I've had to kill it on my mailboxes. Can anyone tell me what criteria Spam Assassin is using to make these determinations?

I'm still getting some spam (I'm pretty certain I *don't* need viagra or to refinance), but the number of legitimate emails being bounced is snowballing, it seems so I'm curious what could be triggering the spam determination.

Thanks!

[ryount]

I would suggest you change your configuration to redirect or tag your mail for the time being. Then you can determine what is going on from the SpamAssassin report in the body of the message.

[GregJ]

Hi,

Basically SpamAssassin 'grades' the SPAMishness of the incomming mail. If it is above a user-configurable level, then the SA filters bounce or trash or tag the mail.

I set mine up not to long ago and did a search on these forums for SpamAssassin setup. There were some really good instructions, tutorials, and threads that helped me set it up. I'm still tweaking it some, but in the main it works great. I would suggest you browse them as well if you haven't already.

In addition to the SA filter, I am also still using the EFM to check those mails that SA hasn't blackholed against known spam lists. And I also use the executable attachment filter to drop "executables".

All in all, FQ's filtering setup is great.

-g

[guerrilla]

I'll check those reports and the recommended threads later tonight. I've disabled SA for the moment until I have time to do the tweaking.

Personally, I think what's needed is a way to make these guys take a financial hit, a BIG financial hit, for dealing in spam. It's ridiculous to have to pay what's essentially extortion in assorted filters and services to make communication viable. But since we can't get the postal service to kick up the costs of Junkmail to a dettimental level, I guess there's little hope of killing spam. Seeing as how most legislatures and execs have their secretaries, ahem, assistants handle their mail -- snail and e-.

We won't even start on telemarketers.