Spam-Filter-Free Options (Was: Computer repair shop)

[Chip Marshall]

On May 06, 2008, VirginSnow at vfemail.net sent me the following:
> Spam filters are a bad idea for one very simple reason: THEY DON'T
> WORK.  The don't work, because they CAN'T work, because the approach
> is flawed.  Until we can write programs capable of passing the Turing
> test, spam filters are destined to either (or both of):

So the problem here is the definition of "work". When applied to spam
filters, I take it to mean that a reasonable amount of spam is prevented
from hitting my inbox, thereby lessening the amount of time it takes me
to process my incoming mail.

Currently my DNSBLs block about 600 messages/day, SpamAssassin traps a
further 100ish messages in my Spam box. As far as I can tell, it has no
false positives, and only about 1 false negative per day.

So, instead of hitting my delete key 701 times a day, I only hit it
once. I'd say spam filters work quite well.

And, since I don't really hit the delete key, I hit the "Move this
message to my spam learning queue" key (thanks mutt!) SpamAssassin
learns from it's mistakes and gets better.

-- 
Chip Marshall <chip at 2bithacker.net>
http://weblog.2bithacker.net/                        PGP key ID 43C4819E
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