SORBS Contact

Thu Aug 10 03:51:58 UTC 2006

On Aug 9, 2006, at 10:59 PM, Allan Poindexter wrote:
> At LISA a couple of years ago a Microsoftie got up at the SPAM
> symposium and told of an experiment they did where they asked their
> hotmail users to identify their mail messages as spam or not.  He said
> the users got it wrong some small percentage amount of the time.  I
> was stunned at the arrogance and presumption in that comment.  You
> can't tell from looking at the contents, source, or destination if
> something is spam because none of these things can tell whether the
> message was requested or is wanted by the recipient.  The recipient is
> the only person who can determine these things.

I'm gonna hold up the "I call bullshit" card here. Recipients most  
certainly *can* get it wrong.

Things I've seen "reported as spam":

	- An autoresponse from "abuse at DOMAIN" telling the user that the e- 
mail they had JUST sent to abuse at DOMAIN had been accepted and was  
being fed to a human being for processing

	- Receipts for online purchases the user legitimately made

... and numerous other things just like this that, whether the user  
wants to call it "spam" or not, certainly is not "spam".

So yes, I would have to -- as much as it pains me in my heart of  
hearts -- agree with the Hotmail representative in your example.  
Users can and will get it wrong at the very least some small  
percentage of the time.

Cheers,
D

--

Derek J. Balling
Manager of Systems Administration
Vassar College
124 Raymond Ave
Box 0406 - Computer Center 217
Poughkeepsie, NY 12604
W: (845) 437-7231
C: (845) 249-9731

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