Paradise/ ClearNet spam proofing?
 

When TelstraClear introduced its spam-filter, in September, based on
the Brightmail service, it worked quite well for me. But in the past
few weeks, my spam load has been steadily mounting again. Messages
like:

Lose 25 pounds w/a patch

This is the qmail program
I'm sorry to have to inform you that I wasn't able to deliver your
message to one or more destinations.
Undelivered mail to ylvnvlz@netmail.com"?

Lusty dad doing his daughter

Take a valium 30lg

Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired? (a real classic spam line,
that one; we'll give you a job where money comes rolling in without
your doing anything)
You can Earn Your Degree Online
Paying too much for allergy relief?
Guaranteed* Gold Card
Need Money? - Get $500 in Your Bank Account Today
(header) Naked mom s*cks son's c*ck;
(body) Russian incest f*cking (those are MY asterisks, NOT theirs; the
words in the message are in their 'basic' form.

Are Brightmail's operatives (yes, they're apparently real human beings
who scan your email - which in itself makes me a little uncomfortable)
falling down on the job?

I'm fed up with complaining to them; their response is to nitpick
about my sending the complaint to the wrong address, and when I got to
talk to one of their senior people (thanks only to my journalistic
'clout', I suspect) all I got was: "We're trying as hard as we can,
and you should look at the stuff we block". And true, they block about
three times what they let slip through; but the headings don't seem to
be any less obvious on the ones sent through (above) than on the ones
they block.

How have others found the Paradise/ ClearNet service? Initially good,
but now either getting sloppy or being overwhelmed?

Or am I specially "favoured" in this regard?

Steve B.

Re: Paradise/ ClearNet spam proofing?
 

On Sun, 09 Nov 2003 05:34:38 +1300, Steve B
<s.bell@nospam-iecho.co.nz> wrote:

<Snip>

>How have others found the Paradise/ ClearNet service? Initially good,
>but now either getting sloppy or being overwhelmed?
>
>Or am I specially "favoured" in this regard?
>
>Steve B.

I think that's a fair asssessment. It is good, but it could be better.
I deleted all the mail in my spam folder about a week ago; this week
there are over 250 in there again.

There have always been a few messages getting through and the number
seems to be increasing. Currently I'm getting a lot on the subject of
online pharmacies. They don't seem to get stopped. They are written
with a lot of the letters in subject line having dots like this: ä

I would expect this to be an easy filter to create.

I have a policy of never paying for something I can do myself for
free. If the spam filtering became a pay service, I wouldn't use it.
It's pretty good for free, though.

Bye,
James

Re: Paradise/ ClearNet spam proofing?
 

"Steve B" <s.bell@nospam-iecho.co.nz> wrote in message
news:ir5qqvkmssmg747gv7jenpd8ub7essdajm@4ax.com...
> When TelstraClear introduced its spam-filter, in September, based on
> the Brightmail service, it worked quite well for me. But in the past
> few weeks, my spam load has been steadily mounting again. Messages
> like:

My spam has increased since their filters were bought in...work that out LOL
i can't. and thing is...it's obvious spam to

Sarns

Re: Paradise/ ClearNet spam proofing?
 

On Sun, 09 Nov 2003 05:34:38 +1300, Steve B wrote:

> When TelstraClear introduced its spam-filter, in September, based on
> the Brightmail service, it worked quite well for me. But in the past
> few weeks, my spam load has been steadily mounting again. Messages
> like:

Spammer continually morph. 95% becomes 80%, becomes 70% within weeks
unless the filters are constantly tweaked to match.

Things aren't helped by the army of zombies spammers are now using.
Millions of "0wned" winboxes on DSL/Cable connections around the world...

Re: Paradise/ ClearNet spam proofing?
 

"Uncle StoatWarbler" <alanb+google4@digistar.com> wrote in message
news:pan.2003.11.08.22.59.35.686140@digistar.com.. .
> On Sun, 09 Nov 2003 05:34:38 +1300, Steve B wrote:
>
> > When TelstraClear introduced its spam-filter, in September, based on
> > the Brightmail service, it worked quite well for me. But in the past
> > few weeks, my spam load has been steadily mounting again. Messages
> > like:
>
> Spammer continually morph. 95% becomes 80%, becomes 70% within weeks
> unless the filters are constantly tweaked to match.
>
> Things aren't helped by the army of zombies spammers are now using.
> Millions of "0wned" winboxes on DSL/Cable connections around the world...

Works well for me. A few get through each day and SpamPal usually gets these
but there's hundreds (797) in the webmail spam box, and I cleared that out
about two weeks ago.
Which was painful - is there any way to delete everything in the spambox in
one hit?

Re: Paradise/ ClearNet spam proofing?
 

pete wrote:
> Which was painful - is there any way to delete everything in the spambox in
> one hit?

It will clear itself after 30 days... but umm, you may have to change
some sort of view settings, as in, change "view 20 messages per page" to
something like "view 100 messages per page"

Re: Paradise/ ClearNet spam proofing?
 

"T.N.O." <news@no.spiced.ham.here.please.dave.net.nz> wrote in
news:3fadd956@news.iconz.co.nz:

> pete wrote:
>> Which was painful - is there any way to delete everything in the
>> spambox in one hit?
>
> It will clear itself after 30 days... but umm, you may have to change
> some sort of view settings, as in, change "view 20 messages per page"
> to something like "view 100 messages per page"

I don't think you can do that. Mine had 1200 odd the last time i looked so
i wonder how much that choak's up my total mail box size. I tried deleting
them - 20 at a time but after 40 I gave up. I would hate to think that my
mail might start bouncing cause my mail box is to full.

Re: Paradise/ ClearNet spam proofing?
 

Suddenly, Steve B sprang forth and uttered these pithy words:
> Are Brightmail's operatives (yes, they're apparently real human beings
> who scan your email - which in itself makes me a little uncomfortable)
No. They have real human beings who monitor the incoming spam (probably
spamtraps, ie email addresses set to catch spam) and therefore customise
filters to match.

They don't read your email. That would be physically impossible.

> I'm fed up with complaining to them; their response is to nitpick
> about my sending the complaint to the wrong address, and when I got to
> talk to one of their senior people (thanks only to my journalistic
> 'clout', I suspect) all I got was: "We're trying as hard as we can,
> and you should look at the stuff we block". And true, they block about
> three times what they let slip through; but the headings don't seem to
> be any less obvious on the ones sent through (above) than on the ones
> they block.

I don't know about Brightmail, but Spamcop's filtered email service
(http://mail.spamcop.net/individuals.php) catches around 95% of my spam.
It had quite a few false positives, but they were just marketing
newsletter type stuff. I whitelist them and never have a problem. You
can control the type of filtering from lots of options and decided what
happens to a match (dump, hold, forward with a tag).



--
aaronl at consultant dot com
For every expert, there is an equal and
opposite expert. - Arthur C. Clarke

Re: Paradise/ ClearNet spam proofing?
 

Aaron Lawrence wrote:
>>Are Brightmail's operatives (yes, they're apparently real human beings
>>who scan your email - which in itself makes me a little uncomfortable)

> No. They have real human beings who monitor the incoming spam (probably
> spamtraps, ie email addresses set to catch spam) and therefore customise
> filters to match.
> They don't read your email. That would be physically impossible.

well, unless they hire a couple of million people :)

Re: Paradise/ ClearNet spam proofing?
 

Steve B <s.bell@nospam-iecho.co.nz> wrote in message news:<ir5qqvkmssmg747gv7jenpd8ub7essdajm@4ax.com>. ..
> When TelstraClear introduced its spam-filter, in September, based on
> the Brightmail service, it worked quite well for me. But in the past
> few weeks, my spam load has been steadily mounting again. Messages
> like:

I have never had any spam messages with Clear because I don't give my
email address to pornographers.

Check your spam folder on Clear or Paradise webmail and you will see
how much spam the filter catches.

These systems never catch 100% of spam as there is a risk they will
remove legitimate emails.

If you don't like the service you can opt out in webmail.