Forum Moderators: LifeinAsia
Does anyone here report to spamcop?
Does it work?
Does anyone use the server software?
Does anyone know anything more about it than what I can read on the website (the .net one, that is)?
PS - sorry if this is the wrong forum, I just noticed the 'aggressive spam filtering' thread here.
Just to make this more interesting, I noticed that mailwasher uses bl.spamcop.net as a DNS blacklist.
Can anyone tell me if that's effective?
And, if so, wouldn't it be a nice feature if mailwasher could report spam to spamcop?
-----------------
Issue number two!
I seemed to get more spam after I submitted some reports to the free spamcop interface. They were not munged; now I know what munged means.
-----------------
Anybody?
I would rather press the delete key 50 times than lose one legitimate enquiry from a good client.
If you try Cloudmark (which works in a different way to Mailwasher) you can in fact on that "report" spam using the block button. Have a look at that.
Because you are "open" to spam if you have Explorer open for editing, even if you are using MailWasher, I use Cloudmark as well to cover myself when I am open (paranoid, I am).
Cloudmark will filter spam into a "spam" folder, where you can review it for deleting.
I also use Spamfilter which accesses the spamcop database (as well as MAPS and spamhaus and a few others) directly. I love it and it works almost perfectly everytime for me.
It reduced about 1,400 emails a day to about 700, none of them spam. I only get one or two spams through the filters per day now, instead of over 700.
In the beginning, I scanned the messages dropped regularly, and found NOT ONE message thas wasn't spam. After one month (over 10,000 spams), I stopped looking.
A LOT of ISPs are starting to use filters which match against spamcop, spamhous, MAPS and dnsrbl. While many marketers don't like this because people who are on their lists may not get their newsletters and emails, the answer is simple. Make darn sure you are not sending your emails from anywhere considered a spam source.
Most internet users are finding the spam problem so horrible (p*n in their kid's inboxes and such) that they are more than willing to have their ISPs filter for them. A few lost messages is nothing compared to their kids getting some of the junk that comes in email.
Richard Lowe
I have used several of these filtering and blacklist services and every single one is simply overzealous in applying the filter rules or blacklists.
Seems to me that spamcop is under-zealous (new word!) If you don't send spam in a week, you're dropped, so, just wait 8 days, send out all your spam, then wait another 8.
I use MailWasher and find it very useful - remember you can play with the filters yourself.
I use Mailwasher also. Here's a question: go to tools, Options, general tab, then the 'Edit DNS blacklist servers'. You'll see bl.spamcop.net. Then try to resolve that name. It doesn't work. Mailwasher, even though it lists spamcop.net as a blacklist filter, can't possibly get any data from that server, can it? Try to ping it. Easy to see, because I have the setting to check against spamcop, but it doesn't work, because I'll get stuff in my box that IS listed in spamcop, but it doesn't mark it as spam.
As far as mailwasher goes, it's great - even if you have no filters. Just check the delete box and it's a lot easier than having to receive a bunch of stuff in your email client, deleting it, then deleting from your deleted box. BUT I'd like to see one thing. So far, you can only AutoDelete stuff IF it is already blacklisted - I'd like to be able to AutoDelete selectively ONLY in my filters -- Anyone else?
I've used spamcop for years and love the service. I would rate it as A+++, easily the best method on the internet for zapping spam. Back it up with a good context checking anti-spam product, and you will not get any spam (or at least not very much).
BTW, yes, I am also inundated with hundreds of messages everyday, on dozens of accounts. However I realized the uselessness of spam reporting, and banning innocent busiensses along the way in the cross fire. Most of the true SPamMasters use disposable addresses and cheap domains they can dump and run from. Their host/access points usually get banned after they are gone.
How are you using it? the server software?
They have a paid service. Forward email and it gets cleaned of junk. Also, bl.spamcop.net works gret for me - spamfilter (a shareware product which blocks based upn several blacklists including spamcop) uses it to delete tons of spam from many of my accounts.
Spamcop blacklisted one of my clients' domains based on a single spam report.
Doubt it. That's not the way it works. As was pointed out in a previous post, spamcop only blacklists for 7 days. Also, it will blacklist only if several reports are received, not just one.
However I realized the uselessness of spam reporting, and banning innocent busiensses along the way in the cross fire.
It happens. This is a war. Reporting is useful and blacklisting really works.
I have my email set to block all executable attachments to prevent viruses from getting through. Yes, some innocent stuff gets blocked, but who cares? That is another war.
Their 16,000 active subscriber list was decimated to less than 7,000 for three months.
Doubt one email did this damage. Sorry, but spamcop does not work that way. If they were blocked for 3 months, then they were spamming. Spamcop is not that harsh unless they keep getting spam reports over and over.
Richard Lowe
I accidentally reported an email as spam when it wasn't and they followed up in the right way to resolve the issue.
My spam has definitely decreased in the past 6 months - probably by 2/3.
I have my email set to block all executable attachments to prevent viruses from getting through. Yes, some innocent stuff gets blocked, but who cares? That is another war."
This is the idea of collateral damage. It doesn't fly in this situation.
There is NO war so that is just hyperbole. There is only an annoyance. No one has the right to negatively affect an innocent bystander to rid himself of an annoyance.
You can and have easily filtered your incoming mail to minimize your problem. You have been able to reduce you annoyance from 700 spam messages to 1 or 2 a day.
How can the company described easily recover? I find this kind of vigilante approach unacceptable. It's on a par with the idea of 'Lets kill them all and let God sort them out'. It sounds real macho but doesn’t solve the problem.
I think the comparison to war is absurd.
I think the comparison to war is absurd.
Sorry, it is a war. The spammers (criminals) are stealing resources without compensation for their own ends. My email server was getting over 2gb of spam trash per month before I started blocking it - 2gb of wasted bandwidth used without my permission and at my cost. They are abusing internet resources (multiply that 2gb by zillions of users). Worse yet, their junk is often obscene p*n, which MY CHILDREN are exposed to without my consent or knowledge. That c*p ruines lives, and I do not want my family exposed. Period. That's why it's war. It's the criminal abusers of the system vs the common man.
The idea is if we tolerate spam in any form, then we allow it. If we don't tolerate it, and in fact don't tolerate anyone supporting it, then it will die eventually.
How much spam is okay? The answer is none. It's the same answer as how much terrorism is okay? None. How many murders are acceptable? How many thefts are fine? How often is it okay for an employee to steal from his employer?
Spam is not an annoyance. it's a criminal act. It is war.
Richard Lowe
