[sqr-users] handling unwanted email

["Steve Cavill" <steve.cavill@infoclarity.com.au>]

Although I don't have a prevention for irrelevant email (though not
responding is a good start!), I can recommend a piece of free software that
I use to filter unwanted email.

You can download it at: http://spambayes.sourceforge.net/windows.html

It takes about 10 minutes to install with Microsoft Outlook, the install for
other email clients looks a bit more complicated.

I have trained it to ignore messages about viagra, penis enlargement, porn
sites, and various other spam.  Today I trained it to ignore discussions
about outsourcing of American IT jobs.  Of 32 messages I received on
SQR-Users in the last 24 hours, it correctly identified 14 as SPAM, and 17
as good (they call them "ham").  Unfortunately it thought Mike Hunsaker's
question on Arrays was also spam, but in defence of the software Mike did
ask his question as a reply to the foreign spies palaver, so all "spam"
clues were still in his message.

Note the software doesn't stop you receiving the email, but it diverts it to
a "spam" folder, so they don't interrupt you.  I scan the headings of the
spam folder once a day to check it didn't "spam" something that I wanted to
see.

My apologies to those who also regard this message as spam, but I thought it
was worth sharing, as I could see a high level of frustration dealing with
irrelevant email.

Cheers, Steve
(from Australia - I'm not sure if that makes me a foreign spy?)


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