Emails wrongly tagged as spam by Plusnet
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Emails wrongly tagged as spam by Plusnet
02-02-2008 5:24 PM
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Quote from: mikeb I've started this thread to collect further evidence of false positives arriving via the postini service. Just in case anyone doesn't understand exactly what that means, a false positive is a 100% genuine message that has been classified by postini as being spam for one reason or another.
Quite a few of the false positives I'm seeing are not because Postini think they are spam, but because Plusnet have made an utter cods of interpreting the Postini headers and are quite wrongly tagging the email as Spam1.
To check on what Postini thinks of an email you can post the full headers in to this tool:
http://www.postini.com/support/header_analyzer.php
Here's an example of what I mean. This email is the monthly MessageLabs Intelligence report - one of the leading alternatives to Postini.
[tt]Envelope-to: abc@xyz.plus.com
Delivery-date: Sat, 02 Feb 2008 14:08:25 +0000
Received: from exprod5mx250.postini.com ([64.18.0.170] helo=psmtp.com)
by pih-sunmxcore15.plus.net with smtp (PlusNet MXCore v2.00) id 1JLJ2d-0003jV-Sd
for abc@xyz.plus.com; Sat, 02 Feb 2008 14:08:25 +0000
Received: from source ([81.29.64.116]) by exprod5mx250.postini.com ([64.18.4.14]) with SMTP;
Sat, 02 Feb 2008 08:08:21 CST
Received: from twconnect.com (localhost [127.0.0.1])
by mail.twconnect.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 744248F819C
for <abc@xyz.plus.com>; Sat, 2 Feb 2008 14:08:16 +0000 (GMT)
Message-ID: <251591.connect@twconnect.com>
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 14:08:16 +0000 (GMT)
From: MessageLabs Intelligence <mlireport@messagelabs.com>
To: abc@xyz.plus.com
Subject: [-SPAM-] =?UTF-8?Q?MessageLabs_Intelligence:_Spammers_Exploit_New_Year_Diffi?=
=?UTF-8?Q?dence_=E2=80=93_Financial_Uncertaint?=
=?UTF-8?Q?ies_and_Personal_Insecurities?=
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/related; type="multipart/alternative";
boundary="----=_Part_9611_25951650.1201961296412"
X-pstn-neptune: 2/1/0.50/59
X-pstn-levels: (S:31.61122/99.90000 CV:24.3639 R:95.9108 P:95.9108 M:88.2296 C:51.8443 )
X-pstn-settings: 1 (0.1500:0.1500) CV gt3 gt2 gt1 r p m C
X-pstn-addresses: from <mlireport@messagelabs.com> [31/3]
X-pn-pstn: Spam 1
X-PN-VirusFiltered: by PlusNet MXCore (v4.00)[/tt]
Pasting these headers in to the analyser linked above confirms that Postini do not consider it spam - It is Plusnet who have totally incorrectly tagged it as spam as they are mis-interpreting the Postini headers.
jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler) Why I have left Plusnet (warning: long post!) Broadband: Andrews & Arnold Home::1 (FTTC 80/20) Line rental: Pulse 8 Home Line Rental (£14.40/month) Mobile: iD mobile (£4/month) |
Re: Emails wrongly tagged as spam by Plusnet
02-02-2008 5:47 PM
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Re: Emails wrongly tagged as spam by Plusnet
02-02-2008 7:11 PM
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To argue with someone who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead - Thomas Paine
Re: Emails wrongly tagged as spam by Plusnet
02-02-2008 10:13 PM
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I think what we *really* need is a competition here with an appropriate prize for the biggest spam detection cods up. In fact maybe we could have two categories, one for postini and one for PN. Not sure what the prize should be but perhaps a years subscription to a half-decent anti-spam service provider and/or a years subscription to any reputable ISP that doesn't have quite such a cavalier attitude to customers e-mail would be good ?
Sorry and all that but I think I can recognise when the horse is dead so no point trying to flog it any more ! I've pretty much given up worrying about postini and PN's implementation thereof after a month messing around with it. Unreliable and unpredictable with way too many false positives and way too many lost e-mails for it ever to be usable on my real A/C plus way too many false negatives into the bargain as well TBH despite the overly aggressive filtering by both parties. No real shortage of other customers with similar issues either so it's not just me and sadly I can't see PN fixing their own issues never mind being able to 'encourage' postini to fix theirs. Sorry PN, whatever the trial was and however it was conducted, it clearly wasn't that representative of real life if the excellent results you reported at the time are to be believed. There's more to anti-spam solutions than putting out the flags proclaiming that "we reject 'n'% of all incoming e-mail".
Anyways, back to the all important competition, my entries from data actually received so far follow and I must say that I'm pretty confident that first prize in the PN category has my name on it. I'm reasonably confident in securing at least the runner's up prize for the postini category as well mind you
For the PN category, an advice e-mail from a reputable organisation confirming the revised dates and other related information for a public event:
Quote X-pstn-neptune: 0/0/0.00/0
X-pstn-levels: (S:97.97078/99.90000 CV:99.9000 R:95.9108 P:95.9108 M:81.4829 C:99.7951 )
X-pstn-settings: 1 (0.1500:0.1500) cv gt3 gt2 gt1 r p M c
X-pstn-addresses: from <rbf@rbf.pmailuk.com> [20/1]
X-pn-pstn: Spam 1
and for the postini category (because it's not quite bad enough to enter into the PN category), a 100% genuine daily digest from a reputable music festival related message board categorised as top quality p0rN:
Quote X-pstn-2strike: clear
X-pstn-neptune: 0/0/0.00/0
X-pstn-levels: (S: 1.45489/99.87965 CV:99.9000 R:95.9108 P: 0.0059 M:97.0282 C:98.6951 )
X-pstn-settings: 1 (0.1500:0.1500) cv gt3 gt2 gt1 r P m c
X-pstn-addresses: from <forums@efestivals.co.uk> [20/1]
X-pn-pstn: Spam 1
PS: Just in case anyone decides to throw their toys out of the pram after reading this, it is actually intended to be a little bit of humorous and light relief to the frustrations of living with anti-spam solutions that don't quite do what they say on the tin as much as anything else. Good luck to all those remaining with postini, I think you might be needing it
B T Plusnet, a bit kinda like P T Barnum ...
... but quite often appears to feature more clowns
Re: Emails wrongly tagged as spam by Plusnet
02-02-2008 10:29 PM
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To see how to implement my method hover your mouse over the solution.
jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler) Why I have left Plusnet (warning: long post!) Broadband: Andrews & Arnold Home::1 (FTTC 80/20) Line rental: Pulse 8 Home Line Rental (£14.40/month) Mobile: iD mobile (£4/month) |
Re: Emails wrongly tagged as spam by Plusnet
03-02-2008 12:50 PM
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... wanders off to instruct Mr.Solicitor to check for possible patent infringement and/or obtain an injunction preventing clever people from giving out free advice to customers that kills the Ca$h Cow that is anti-spam, anti-virus or anti-any_other_kind_of_abuse systems where the business model relies on continuing abuse thus ensuring that the fundamental problem of abuse will never be addressed any time soon.
B T Plusnet, a bit kinda like P T Barnum ...
... but quite often appears to feature more clowns
Re: Emails wrongly tagged as spam by Plusnet
03-02-2008 12:59 PM
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Use Pen and Paper, but that doesn't have a built in spell checker
edit Second thoughts, I still get a load of junk through my letter box, and I am signed up to the Mail Preference Service anti spam system, a lot is courtesy of HM Post Office?, unfranked!
Re: Emails wrongly tagged as spam by Plusnet
03-02-2008 8:08 PM
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My entry into the competition is;
X-pstn-levels: (S:33.43804/99.90000 CV:99.9000 R:95.9108 P:95.9108 M:97.0282 C:60.2565 )
Re: Emails wrongly tagged as spam by Plusnet
03-02-2008 9:50 PM
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[tt]X-pstn-neptune: 0/0/0.00/0
X-pstn-levels: (S:51.78989/99.90000 CV:99.9000 R:95.9108 P:95.9108 M:97.0282 C:51.8443 )
X-pstn-settings: 1 (0.1500:0.1500) cv gt3 gt2 gt1 r p m C
X-pn-pstn: Spam 1
[/tt]
jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler) Why I have left Plusnet (warning: long post!) Broadband: Andrews & Arnold Home::1 (FTTC 80/20) Line rental: Pulse 8 Home Line Rental (£14.40/month) Mobile: iD mobile (£4/month) |
Re: Emails wrongly tagged as spam by Plusnet
03-02-2008 10:21 PM
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Quote from: pierre_pierre I still get a load of junk through my letter box ... courtesy of HM Post Office?, unfranked!
OT ... sorry, I know. There is something you can do about this, think you contact your sorting office or similar, they have to stop it if you tell them.
SW.
3Mb FTTC
https://portal.plus.net/my.html?action=data_transfer_speed
Re: Emails wrongly tagged as spam by Plusnet
03-02-2008 10:24 PM
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jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler) Why I have left Plusnet (warning: long post!) Broadband: Andrews & Arnold Home::1 (FTTC 80/20) Line rental: Pulse 8 Home Line Rental (£14.40/month) Mobile: iD mobile (£4/month) |
Re: Emails wrongly tagged as spam by Plusnet
03-02-2008 10:29 PM
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To argue with someone who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead - Thomas Paine
Re: Emails wrongly tagged as spam by Plusnet
03-02-2008 11:01 PM
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Quote from: godsell4 There is something you can do about this, think you contact your sorting office or similar, they have to stop it if you tell them.
See this BBC News article from 2006 which gives details of how to opt out of unaddressed mail.
Update: Details on Royal Mail web site here
Re: Emails wrongly tagged as spam by Plusnet
03-02-2008 11:05 PM
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The annoying thing is that the opt out is all or nothing.
jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler) Why I have left Plusnet (warning: long post!) Broadband: Andrews & Arnold Home::1 (FTTC 80/20) Line rental: Pulse 8 Home Line Rental (£14.40/month) Mobile: iD mobile (£4/month) |
Re: Emails wrongly tagged as spam by Plusnet
03-02-2008 11:16 PM
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