[thelist] Why Does SpamAssassin Hate America? (Or at least just me?)

[Chris Anderson]

> So, in a world where even some techies are fed up, how do you
> communicate effective means of blocking spam?  What is the difference
> between statistically based filtering vs. heuristics?  And how do I do
> the later and avoid the former?


Statistical spam filters based on Bayesian filters are probably what you
are looking for.
You teach it what is spam and what is not, then it uses what it's learnt
to filter incoming spam.

Of course this does mean there is some ramp-up time, but after a short
while it begins to get very good at it!

Having a client-side filter means you do have to download the spam
before it's filtered, but you get a "personalised" filter.
If you filter the recipes your mum sends you enough, they will be
classified as spam along with the usual spam :D

You can get server-based Bayesian filters, but of course it's no longer
"personalised", but instead is based on the "teachings" of other people
using their client-side filters and is again very good. If a new spam
format comes out, once enough people get a spam message the server-based
version will start to know about the new format and filter them.