[Spambayes] Re: [spambayes-dev] A query on Frequently Asked Question 4.6

[Remi Ricard]

Hi Harry,

>     The FAQ item 4.6 above addressed something that I've wondered about since 
>I got SB going around July this year, that is, "Where does all the 'saved' spam 
>go?" <smile>. 
>     I do have a lot of spam now, 
>     16,054 spams and 1,725 hams. 
>     The thing is where do I go to cut down on the amount of spam? 
>     I see the comment, "Warning: you have much more spam than ham - SpamBayes 
>works best with approximately even numbers of ham and spam." in the 'Status and 
>Configuration' section.
>     I'll have another look and see if I can figure out where all the spam is 
>located...
>  
>
It could help if you tell us which version of  Spambayes and how you use it.
If you use sb_server they should be in your inbox or if you have set a 
filter rule then you should not.

If you use something else they should be in one of your folder since 
spambayes don't delete anything.

>================
>4.3   How do I train SpamBayes (forward/bounce method)?
>
>Alternatively, when you receive an incorrectly classified message, you can 
>forward it to the SMTP proxy for training. If the message should have been 
>classified as spam, forward or bounce the message to spambayes_spam at localhost, 
>and if the message should have been classified as ham, forward it to 
>spambayes_ham at localhost. You can still review the training through the web 
>interface, if you wish to do so. You should ensure that the "lookup message in 
>cache" option is set to True/Yes before you use this.
>
>Note that some mail clients (particularly Outlook Express) do not forward all 
>headers when you bounce, forward or redirect mail. We do not recommend using 
>the SMTP proxy with these clients.
>===============
>     ...I saw from that item 4.3 that there are locations at...
>     spambayes_spam at localhost
>     ...and at...
>     spambayes_ham at localhost
>     ...are these locations on this my computer or are they located at my ISP's 
>server? 
>  
>
It is "on" your computer  what  really  append is  your email program 
will send the message with spambayes_spam at localhost
to the port x (in think it is 25) on your computer then spambayes 
(working as a proxy) will see the message and grab it to train
on it and then discard it.


>     This is a standalone machine with a cable-modem broadband connection to 
>NTL...
>     I've just used XP's Search facility to see if,  spambayes_spam at localhost , 
>exists as a file on this machine it didn't find such and I didn't expect that 
>it would. 
>  
>
I think you can find the info in the file options.py but the info might 
be split in 2 part
"spambayes_spam" and localhost since the email address for the spam is 
configurable (spambayes _spam)


>     Are these thousands of spam actually located on my ISP's server, that is 
>on NTL's server? 
>  
>
No
But this could be yes if your email program is set to keep email on server.

>     If so how do I go about accessing this that I might reduce the amount of 
>spam to something near the same 'ham' figure of 1,725? 
>  
>
You can do it simply by not training on all spam that comes in.
The problem now is you can't reduce the number of spam you can only add 
info to the database.
So you can train on more ham to have a balanced database.

But I think, it might be better to start from scratch

>     
>     Excuse the long explanation. 
>  
>
It is always better to have more info so don't excuse yourself  ;-)
See the start of the email (We need more info......)

Remi