[YAM] Re: filtering and spam

On Mon, 2007-09-17 at 21:36 +1100, Richard Tapp wrote:
> I still have the issue of downloaded emails going directly into the Incoming
> folder and then being filtered, rather than being downloaded into the Spam
> folder.

Just about all mail clients do that, unless you're using something like
IMAP and the messages are prefiltered to folders on your server.

You'd really want it that way, too.  You wouldn't want mail ending up in
your spam folder just because something failed to recognise it.  You're
better for mail to go into your inbox, be filtered away if it matches
patterns for wanted mail (e.g. YAM mailing list), be filtered away if it
matches patterns for unwanted mail (e.g. spam), and the remainder left
for you to check through.

> After setting up more filters, another problem has surfaced - now whenever I
> download emails, it puts the [YAM] emails (from this list) in the spam
> folder, instead of moving them to my Yam-freelists folder (as I have had
> set up in my filter rules for as long as I can remember).

You should show everyone your filter rules, exactly as you use them, if
you want a remote diagnosis.  The usual thing is to ensure that
filtering for mail you want occurs before filtering for mail you don't
want.

> I even tried then changing the filter rule for the Yam-freelists messages to
> test by "subject" content instead of "reply-to" content, but that made no
> difference.

As a general rule, the reply-to header is quite okay for most mailing
lists.  It tends to be set for the list, though not always.  The subject
is usually a worse choice, you can filter other things that aren't
really list mail into your list mail folder (e.g. forwarded private
messages, cross-posted messages, and other messages that mention the
keywords co-incidentally).

Many mailing lists carry mailing list headers, which explicitly identify
the list.  They'll only be added by messages passing through it, and
won't exist on other messages.  They're the best thing to filter by, if
your client lets you, and only poor clients do not.

The headers of this list contain the following (below) that could be
used to identify YAM mailing list mail.  Any one of them, by themselves,
would do.  You'll find such headers preceded with "List-" and often
that'll be preceeded with an "X-".

Reply-to: yam@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
List-unsubscribe: <yam-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=unsubscribe>
List-Id: yam <yam.freelists.org>
X-List-ID: yam <yam.freelists.org>
List-subscribe: <yam-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=subscribe>
List-owner: <mailto:yam-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
List-post: <mailto:yam@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
List-archive: <http://www.freelists.org/archives/yam>
X-list: yam

> Whether it's of any relevance, after I found there was a handful of
> Yam-freelist emails in my spam folder, I decided to apply the filter
> manually to the spam folder, and it started moving a heap of spam emails to
> the Yam-freelists folder (which didn't comply with the rules I'd set up in
> my filters)?!?!

That sounds like you've got a mistake with your filters, then; probably
how you've done your wildcarding.  It's not uncommon for some list mail
to end up being classified as spam, but running your YAM filters on a
folder should only drag in YAM mail.

-- 

Regards,
Tim Seifert.


________________________________________________________________________
Friends, n.:
        People who borrow your books and set wet glasses on them.

        People who know you well, but like you anyway.

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