Setting Up Spam Filters
The new chemistry mail server uses Spam Assassin to assess incoming mail messages and calculate the likelihood that a particular message is spam. The resulting score is inserted into the email message as a header that your mail reader can use to decide what action should be taken.
The chemistry mail server itself does not take any action based upon the spam score assigned to the message. This is done for a number of reasons:
- It ensures delivery of messages. Automatically discarding messages is a dangerous feature to include in a mail delivery system. By simply marking the messages, we ensure that all messages are delivered to your mailbox.
- It enables individuals to decide the sensitivity of their spam filter. Given the wide range of people in the Chemistry department and the wide range of messages they receive, establishing an arbitrary filter would be unreasonable.
When configuring spam filters, it's important to be aware of false positives (legitimate messages marked as spam). There's no such thing as a spam filter that is 100% accurate. We recommend setting your filter actions to move the message to a Junk folder rather than deleting it until you are comfortable with Spam Assassin's scoring system. This will enable you to easily check for messages that may have been incorrectly classified and adjust a spam filter that's a bit too sensitive.
Please contact us with questions.
Please note: Spam Assassin is not currently supported in Outlook Express.
Instructions on how to use Spam Assassin to filter out email for spam messages.