Spam Folder Overview

Authors Note: If you have not already, I would suggest you first read the Spam Filtering Overview page before proceeding.

This is a standard email folder. Any email that is stored here will count against your quota. When you receive an email in your inbox that is not marked as spam, but should have been, you have the option to "report as spam". After you report an email as spam, one copy is sent to the system administrator, and then your copy is moved from its current location into the spam folder. Since a copy is sent to the system administrator, there is no need keep email in this folder. It is like your Trash folder, and should be emptied periodically. Also like your Trash folder, any messages stored here longer then 30 days will be automatically deleted.

The spam folder, and the tools that interact with it, are a secondary layer to the current spam filtering. If you are happy about the amount (or really lack there of) of spam messages that are making it into your inbox, then you will not have any interaction with this folder. If you find that you need to adjust your spam filtering, then you should continue reading. Due to the fact that this spam folder is a vital piece of the second layer of filtering, it should not be deleted. Should you accidentally delete it, don't worry you have two options:

  1. The easiest option is to simply wait. Each night a script will run to check if you have a "Spam" folder. If you do not it will be created for you.
  2. If you can't wait, then you can recreate it yourself. Click on Folders in the top menu. Then use the "Create Spam Folder" option on the Folders page.

Using the Spam Folder

If you are still reading at this point, you are apparently not happy with the amount of spam that is reaching your inbox. There are a few different things you can do, but they should be done in order.

1. Adjust your Tag Level Settings

As discussed on the Quarantine Area page, each user can adjust his/her own level of tagging. If you are receiving too much spam in your inbox that is not being marked as spam, you should lower your Tag Level. Review the Message Scoring section of the Quarantine Area documentation for more information. Note that we highly suggest against having a Tag Level below 3. The lower the number, the more likely you will be tagging your good email as spam. Going below a level of 3 will end up tagging a whole lot of your good email as spam.

2. Adjust your Quarantine Level Setting

As discussed on the Quarantine Area page, each user can also adjust his/her own level of quarantining. If the tagging is working correctly (i.e. your good mail is not being marked as spam, and those messages that are spam are correctly being labeled), but you would like to get those marked messages out of your inbox, then you can lower the Quarantine Level. Review the Message Scoring section of the Quarantine Area documentation for more information.

3. Help Teach SpamAssassin

The people that send out spam messages are constantly refining their techniques. As they learn new methods to get around tools like SpamAssassin, we have to teach SpamAssassin about these new methods. You can help with this process, and this is where the special "Spam Folder" comes into use. Helping to teach SpamAssassin will not only cut down on the amount of spam you receive, but will also help out everyone in the school cut down on the amount of spam they receive.

Before you begin helping out with this learning process, there are two things that we highly suggest you do. The first is make sure your Tag Level is already down to at least 4. The second thing is to make sure that you can see the X-Spam-Score in the header section of the messages you read.

To add X-Spam-Score to the list of displayed headers:

  1. Click on Options in the top menu.
  2. Click on Display Preferences
  3. Add X-Spam-Score: in the box that is labeled "Show Headers". Make sure that you include the colon, and you use the same capitalization.
  4. Press the "Submit" button at the bottom of the page.

Now you are ready to help teach SpamAssassin! This part is actually very easy. While you are reading an email, you will notice there is a option to Report as Spam. If you come across an email that was not tagged as spam (i.e. did not have the subject line changed to [***SPAM***]) then you click on the link that says Report as Spam. Before you click on that link, be sure to check the X-Spam-Score, it should be lower then 4. Otherwise you need to go back and adjust your Tag Level.

Clicking on the Report as Spam link will send a copy of the message to the system administrator, and send your copy into the Spam folder. The system administrator will collect your submissions, along with other users. The will then be passed through SpamAssassin, where a very special process reviews each message and records common traits. This will help teach SpamAssassin about new techniques that the spam writers are using. As with any learning process, the results are not always immediate. It may take some time before you see any specific results. But as more and more of these messages are submitted to SpamAssassin the "smarter" the software will become.

Once you have used the Report as Spam link for a while, your spam folder will being to fill up. Since you have already sent a copy to the system administrator and your copy will count against your quota, there is no need for you to keep them for any length of time. You will want to go in and delete the contents of your spam folder (and your trash folder) on at least a monthly basis.