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What happens when SPAM is rejected?

Offline StephenHodgman

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What happens when SPAM is rejected?
« on: August 13, 2007, 02:45:12 PM »
Hello all.  I have read lots of posts to do with SPAM and junkmail filtering.  However I have not seen this answered as yet so was wondering if anyone can help me please.

We have a server only system as our mail host.  The email filtering has Virus Scanning enabled and SPAM Filtering enabled, Sensitivity = custom (4 to 20)
And Filtering to Junkmail is enabled.

Now, can anyone tell me what happens when an email is received that gets a spamd score of greater than 20?  Does the sending mailer get a message saying the message was rejected?  OR is the message just swallowed silently?  I want to know if the sending mailer gets notice that we are "rejecting" their message.

Thanks,

Offline cactus

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Re: What happens when SPAM is rejected?
« Reply #1 on: August 13, 2007, 03:42:22 PM »
Quote from: "StephenHodgman"
Hello all.  I have read lots of posts to do with SPAM and junkmail filtering.  However I have not seen this answered as yet so was wondering if anyone can help me please.

We have a server only system as our mail host.  The email filtering has Virus Scanning enabled and SPAM Filtering enabled, Sensitivity = custom (4 to 20)
And Filtering to Junkmail is enabled.

Now, can anyone tell me what happens when an email is received that gets a spamd score of greater than 20?  Does the sending mailer get a message saying the message was rejected?  OR is the message just swallowed silently?  I want to know if the sending mailer gets notice that we are "rejecting" their message.

Thanks,
SPAM messages are dropped silently as it is to no avail to let a spammer know that he is spamming, especially as the sender e-mailadresses are fake most of the time.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than its worth ~ Baz Luhrmann - Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)

Offline StephenHodgman

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Re: What happens when SPAM is rejected?
« Reply #2 on: August 14, 2007, 07:21:24 AM »
I have no problem with ignoring real spammers.  However, what if your IP address has hit a blacklist somehow and you get lumped in with the spammers?
How do you know?  And, how do you find out which list and get it removed?  With all of this filtering and blocking going on we need mechanisms to make sure mistakes can be recovered from.

I am interested on the details of how email has been configured in SME. e.g:
1. Does it ignore incoming email from a server without a resolvable reverse dns lookup?
2. Can it be configured to have "user whitelists"? i.e. deliver to a local user based on their whitelist, overriding the normal checks? (I have bene asked by one user)
3. Can I configure all detected "spam" to go to junkmailboxes rather then completely rejecting it?  So nothing is missed?
4. I am unclear what the Spam Levels "Medium", "High", "Very high" do.  What spamd count are they triggered on?
Thanks,