Marked As Spam

Question asked by Jeff Weiss - 9/9/2014 at 4:27 AM

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Using SmarterMail Pro v8.0.4086,

I receive spam email and I check the box next to the message and click <Actions><Mark><Spam>. SmarterMail moves the message to the spam folder, but the next day I will receive another email from the same sender, but it is not put into the Spam Folder.

Why doesn't SmarterMail remember that I marked the sender as spam and automatically put it in the spam folder?

Jeff

17 Replies

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Bruce Barnes Replied

9/9/2014 at 6:05 AM

Jeff;

I understand your frustration. While the subsequent messages you are receiving may appear to be from the same sender as the previous message, those messages may actually be originating from a totally different, "sent from" account, and even from a different server, in a different country, than the previous messages.

There are a couple of things you can do to see what's happening here:

Check the HEADERS of the inbound spam messages and compare the origination and routing data. You'll have to check each message and save the data into a text file of some kind. On many desktop clients, you can "edit" the message and pre-pend the header above the actual message data.

Once you have ascertained what the SENDING IP ADDRESS is, check your SMTP LOGS. If you are running SmarterMail 12.X, you can search the logs across multiple days and save a lot of time during the search process. Make certain you have the box for "DISPLAY RELATED TRAFFIC" checked when you search, IE:

*Searching Logs using SmarterMail's Date Range Feature*

Because of modern spammers frequently spread the load of their activities across multiple servers, sometimes in multiple countries, they are much more difficult to catch and filter.

The same tactics break the ability to mark something as spam because, in many cases, subsequent messages are not really being sent from the same e-mail address as prior days.

Bruce Barnes ChicagoNetTech Inc brucecnt@comcast.net Phonr: (773) 491-9019 Phone: (224) 444-0169 E-Mail and DNS Security Specialist Network Security Specialist Customer Service Portal: https://portal.chicagonettech.com Website: https://www.ChicagoNetTech.com Security Blog: http://networkbastion.blogspot.com/ Web and E-Mail Hosting, E-Mail Security and Consulting

Jeff Weiss Replied

9/10/2014 at 3:38 AM

Just wondering why Smarter mail doesn't remember the senders name as marker for spam instead of IP. Outlook does.

Plus, I don't have access to admin tools.

Jeff

Henry Timmes Replied

9/10/2014 at 8:11 AM

That brings up a good point..

Whats the difference between marking something as spam and blocking the sending. I'm assuming Jeff Should just block the sender, marking something as spam, means they should always be funneled to the spam folder?

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Jeff Weiss Replied

10/2/2014 at 6:53 AM

I just read the Help File...............................................

Spam - Marks the message as spam and moves it to the Deleted Items folder. Note: SmarterMail uses Bayesian filtering to evaluate the header and content of an incoming message and determine the probability that it is spam. This type of spam filtering "learns" to differentiate real mail from unwanted junk mail by examining the words and punctuation in large samples of both types of messages. As a result, every time a user marks a message as spam, the Bayesian filtering improves. For users with the Commtouch Premium Antispam add-on, messages marked as spam will be sent to Commtouch for evaluation.

The Bayesian filter IS FAILING IN COMPLETED A SIMPLE TASK!

Also, it doesn't move the message to the Deleted folder, it moves it to the Spam folder.

Jeff

Steve Reid Replied

10/2/2014 at 7:38 AM

If something is manually marked as spam it should block the sender for that account.

This is a needed feature for sure.

Bruce Barnes Replied

10/2/2014 at 8:24 AM

Depends on where it's marked as spam. If it's marked as spam in Outlook, it will be filtered to the spam folder in future deliveries and not blocked.

I think this requires further investigation because what one person marks as spam may not be spam to someone else, and, in fact, may be legitimate e-mail they the original receiving party did not like for some reason.

Steve Reid Replied

10/2/2014 at 8:31 AM

Yeah that's why I think it needs to block it only in that one account. The problem is unavoidable with the bayesian system however.

Jeff Weiss Replied

11/19/2014 at 3:43 AM

Something needs to be done, Marked As Spam needs to be corrected. In a 24 hour period I had to deal with 230 spam emails.

Jeff Weiss Replied

11/20/2014 at 4:24 AM

11/19 - Spam count 135 spam emails. WTF Smarter Mail, can you at least TRY and fix the spam filter?

Jeff Weiss Replied

11/21/2014 at 3:32 AM

11/20- Todays count, 112.

Jeff Weiss Replied

11/24/2014 at 7:01 AM

11/22 & 11/23 - Weekend count 308.

Jeff Weiss Replied

11/25/2014 at 3:08 AM

11/24 - Todays count 307

Steve Reid Replied

11/25/2014 at 8:49 AM

You think posting your spam counts here is helping? I get barely any spam at all on my server. Fact is when Smartermail's antispam is setup right you can reduce spam to almost nothing. Try using message sniffer, when I added it things improved a lot.

Frederick Graves Replied

11/29/2014 at 6:55 AM

NEEDED UPGRADE. IF WE MARK IT SPAM IT SHOULD NEVER EVER GET THROUGH SMARTERMAIL ! ! !
... Dr. Graves
... Jurisdictionary

Frederick Graves Replied

11/29/2014 at 6:56 AM

If I mark it spam in Smartermail, then Smartermail should NEVER AGAIN deliver from that sender or from the sender's NAME, e.g., BestBuy, etc.

Frederick Graves Replied

11/29/2014 at 6:57 AM

To have to select BLOCK SENDER then again to MARK AS SPAM is just nonsensical.
... Dr. Graves
... Jurisdictionary

Employee Replied

5/3/2018 at 8:51 AM

Employee Post Marked As Answer

Through recent testing, we've identified a major flaw with the Bayesian filter implementation, and as a result of our investigation, Bayesian filtering has been removed from SmarterMail 17.x (currently in BETA), 16.x and 15.x. We can no longer offer support for the Bayesian filtering spam check since it is fundamentally flawed and cannot be corrected without a complete re-write. For installations running 14.x and older, we strongly advise disabling the Bayesian filter check indefinitely.

Please note that the performance of the Bayesian filtering within SmarterMail has been surpassed by other methods of spam detection, such as MessageSniffer and Cyren. These two platforms leverage hashing functionality along with heuristically-based analytics to more accurately detect and stop spam messages from being delivered. In short, Bayesian filtering is a relic of older days. You could consider it the horse and carriage compared to the automobile that is modern spam protection. That said, those who still wish to implement Bayesian filtering may benefit from reviewing eFa project, a third-party, open-source filter that includes Bayesian and dedicated Spamassassin.

Regarding the Mark Spam vs Block Sender options... The Mark Spam button will be removed in the future releases of 17.x, 16.x and 15.x. Currently, its only function is to move the selected messages to the Junk Email folder. We are making changes to how a user will manage spam in their inbox, and we are open to modifications. However, because there are many posts relating to these topics throughout this Community, we are going to lock these threads and continue the discussion on one centralized thread:

DISCUSSION: Block Sender / Mark Spam Functionality

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