[Spambayes] SpamBayes questions

[Neville Franks]

>> I have approx. 6 @getsoft.com I want to filter, and possibly
>> some others. Seeing I only discovered Spambayes yesterday and 
>> installed it today, I really don't have much of an 
>> understanding how it goes about doing what it does.

MT> :)  A reason things get tricky with multiple users is that you have to
MT> decide whether they are going to share a database (and hence, a common
MT> definition of spam/ham).  This leads to issues about storing separate
MT> databases, or issues about training shared databases via separate
MT> interfaces (so that not all mail is seen by all users).

MT> The multiple users/server question is asked so often that it would be
MT> really great (IMO) if we did have an example of how to do it (just
MT> making arbitrary decisions, and pointing out where they were).  If I
MT> find time and finish the other things I'm meant to be doing ;) then I
MT> might play around with this (it would be time consuming to set up,
MT> though since I would have to create a test mail server on my system,
MT> since I don't have access to one).

MT> Anyway, in the meantime you can see how things go with the local system.

I appreciate the problems here, but I don't consider this an issue in
my specific case. My 6 aforementioned email accounts predominately get
the same spam, so having one filter for all accounts isn't an issue.
That said I can see how this could be a problem for others and having
some way to handle it would be very nice.


>> Typically my email client is setup to delete mail as it 
>> downloads it. Is it feasible to have a mode/setting which 
>> says don't pass spam on to the email client and also don't 
>> delete it from the mail server. If the email client never 
>> sees the spam in this special mode then it won't delete it 
>> and it will just sit there. Ideally this "mode" could be set 
>> by the Web interface. I could still use WebMail to look at 
>> the mail back on the server if I really wanted to.

MT> What I could see as an 'easy' option would be this:
MT> * your mail program can connect to pop.example.com:110 and all mail
MT> waiting is retrieved normally (and you probably delete it all from the
MT> server as well)

MT> * your mail program can connect to pop.example.com:111 and only
MT> ham/unsures are downloaded; all spam (and false positives ;) are left on
MT> the server (and you probably, again, delete all the mail you download,
MT> since you have a local copy of it).

MT> * your web browser can connect to pop.example.com:80 and see the web
MT> interface, which lets you correct any misclassifications, review waiting
MT> (spam) messages, and the like.  If you reclassify a message from spam to
MT> ham, then it will be downloaded next time your mail program connects to
MT> :111.

MT> This way you would only need to connect to :111 and occasionally review
MT> via the web ui.  Alternatively, you could normally connect via :110 (and
MT> filter based on the headers, perhaps), and connect to :111 when you are
MT> on a dialup, or a mobile, or whatever.  The mail clients connecting to
MT> :111 would have no idea that there was more mail there (or, perhaps,
MT> there could be an option to download a stripped version of the message
MT> so that you know that there is mail that you can check, or maybe a
MT> single summary message occasionally).

MT> It's not that tricky a project (IMO), if the shared user logistics
MT> mentioned above are resolved.

This sounds great to me. The only hassle on my part is having to
change the 6 email account properties to a different port and back,
but I can happily live with that.

A nice enhancement would be to have say a :112 and let the Web
interface specify whether this has the behavior of your :110 or :111
port. Then I could always use :112 and simply hop into the Web
interface to flip the behavior back and forth instead of having to
change all my email accounts.

Another very nice feature for the pop.example.com:80 Web interface
would be an option to delete some/all emails flagged as spam from the
mail server.

Add all this together and my life might start to return to normal
(whether that is).

-- 
Best regards,
 Neville Franks, Author of ED for Windows - the programmers editor, an indispensable tool for great software development.