[thelist] Is my email Spam?

[Frank]

At 01:13 PM 2003-07-23 -0400, you wrote:
>Is there a web application/service (preferably free) out there that will 
>test my html email newsletter to see how much it rates as spam?  A 25% 
>open rate on my last newsletter makes me worried that the newsletter is 
>being considered spam and possibly blocked by AOL or other ISP's.  The 
>newsletter is absolutely opt-in, and I would hate to have our subscribers 
>not get it because it looks unsolicited.

I've run specifically into the same issue. I'm actually thinking of 
creating an app that test the "spam factor" of a particular piece, kind of 
like a syntax checker for spamminess. In the meantime, I recommend that you 
go check out http://au2.spamassassin.org/index.html  download the 
distribution and read up on the rules that they use. It's highly educational.

The second thing I've done is that I've installed k9 (an app that applies 
Bayesian filtering rules to add to/replace your local filters) and look at 
the rating of each. Mind you, this implies that you've already used it long 
enough to teach it what spam looks like (but you can pre-load it with spam 
to set your baseline).

If such a beast already exists, however, let me know. It'll save me a lot 
of work.




--
Frank Marion     lists at frankmarion.com      Keep the signal high.
If with Yoda so strong is the force , why correct grammar can he not use?