[Spambayes] RE: Feature Request

[Coe, Bob]

A couple of comments on the whitelisting debate ...

1.  I agree with the Spambayes developers that whitelisting is superfluous. But it doesn't matter, because only relatively sophisticated users understand why it's superfluous. If you're responsible for email in a shop with unsophisticated users, you WILL implement whitelisting; the users will demand it and will eventually get the ear of someone who can overrule you. The only reason I'm not one of those hollering for whitelisting in Spambayes is that ...

2.  Very few unsophisticated users will accept a client-based solution for spam removal in any case. The reasons for this are varied, and some of them are subtle; but you won't be able to dodge them forever, and eventually you'll have to install a server-based system. But since every commercially viable server-based system includes whitelisting, you don't need it in Spambayes or in any other client-side spamcatcher. (BTW, one of the reasons Spambayes isn't viable in a large Outlook-using organization is the ease of inadvertently deleting or misplacing your spam folders. That the problem is mostly Outlook's fault is irrelevant.)

Bob

MIS Department, City of Cambridge
831 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge MA 02139  ·  617-349-4217  ·  fax 617-349-6165 


> -----Original Message-----
> From: spambayes-bounces at python.org
> [mailto:spambayes-bounces at python.org]On Behalf Of Michal Vitecek
> Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2005 4:09 AM
> To: spambayes at python.org
> Subject: Re: [Spambayes] Feature Request
> 
> 
> Skip Montanaro wrote:
> >
> >    Bryan> Don't you agree that you should be able to whitelist everyone you
> >    Bryan> are doing business though?
> >
> >No, actually I don't.  I get the occasional spam and/or virus purporting to
> >be from people in the Python community who I believe would never spam me and
> >who I also trust keep their machines virus-free..  I trust SpamBayes to sort
> >things out.  In situations where I think email coming from a particular
> >source "can't possibly be spam", I filter it to the proper mailbox before
> >SpamBayes sees it.  You should be able to do this in Outlook as well.  I
> >don't use Outlook though, so I'd be hard-pressed to tell you how to do this.
> 
>  i think you trust spambayes way too much. i also think pre-filtering
>  mail before spambayes is quite strange - what's the use of a filtering
>  application if it needs such workarounds? whitelisting would imo
>  definitely help, because:
> 
>  [remainder of message omitted]