[OFFTOPIC] spam scoring (was: *****SPAM***** Extracting a KeySym from an action routine)

On Tue, Nov 26, 2002 at 09:56:56PM +0000, Bruce M Beach wrote:
> SPAM: -------------------- Start SpamAssassin results ----------------------
> SPAM: This mail is probably spam.  The original message has been altered
> SPAM: so you can recognise or block similar unwanted mail in future.
> SPAM: See http://spamassassin.org/tag/ for more details.
> SPAM: 
> SPAM: Content analysis details:   (5.80 hits, 5 required)
> SPAM: USER_AGENT_PINE    (-1.8 points) Message-Id indicates a non-spam MUA (Pine)
> SPAM: X_AUTH_WARNING     (-0.9 points) Found a X-Authentication-Warning header
> SPAM: SPAM_PHRASE_01_02  (-0.1 points) BODY: Spam phrases score is 01 to 02 (low)
> SPAM:                    [score: 1]
> SPAM: RCVD_IN_OSIRUSOFT_COM (0.4 points)  RBL: Received via a relay in relays.osirusoft.com
> SPAM:                    [RBL check: found 209.16.20.218.relays.osirusoft.com., type: 127.0.0.4]
> SPAM: RCVD_IN_RFCI       (2.3 points)  RBL: Received via a relay in ipwhois.rfc-ignorant.org
> SPAM:                    [RBL check: found 209.16.20.218.ipwhois.rfc-ignorant.org., type: 127.0.0.6]
> SPAM: RCVD_IN_SBL        (3.2 points)  RBL: Received via SBLed relay, see http://www.spamhaus.org/sbl/
> SPAM:                    [RBL check: found 209.16.20.218.sbl.spamhaus.org.]
> SPAM: X_OSIRU_SPAM_SRC   (2.7 points)  RBL: DNSBL: sender is Confirmed Spam Source
> SPAM: 
> SPAM: -------------------- End of SpamAssassin results ---------------------

[on-topic message snipped]

Hmm, so we have 3 pieces of evidence that it isn't spam, four that it
is (all of which are from blacklists), the blacklist scores were enough
to get the message scored as spam, and yet it wasn't spam.

Are we sure we want to be investing this much trust in RBLs, at least
for this mailing list?  Or is there a mountain of spam that hasn't made
it to the list thanks solely to the RBL rules that makes this false
positive worth the trouble?

I have CCed the sender of the message so that he is aware that many of
his mails may be discarded without ever being seen by the intended
recipients, due to aggressive spam filters that rely upon RBLs to
determine whether a message is spam, instead of a message's actual
content.

Also, Mr. Beach, many readers of Xpert list may not see your message
anyway, because its subject was rewritten to include the string
"*****SPAM*****", and their MUAs may as a result sort the message to
/dev/null.  Those same people will probably not see my message for the
same reason.

-- 
G. Branden Robinson                |       Psychology is really biology.
Debian GNU/Linux                   |       Biology is really chemistry.
[email protected]                 |       Chemistry is really physics.
http://people.debian.org/~branden/ |       Physics is really math.

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.2.1 (GNU/Linux)

iEYEARECAAYFAj3jwUoACgkQ6kxmHytGony7wACgqBziO5UpaedHFA/kI8E+EC0q
O7sAniPyK8BkC4mgjkIbahGgSrFwdHIb
=fnd+
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----