Is member level allowed more reject rules than guest?

jolycu · 17 Feb 2006, 08:47 AM

I'm trying to help my brother-on-law stop some of the spam he receives daily. He has a guest level account, and I've hit the maximum of 100 reject rules allowed at this level. If I upgrade him to Member, will he be allowed more rejection rules, or will I be able to edit the sieve script? He gets tons of the stuff!
Thanks!

n5bb · 17 Feb 2006, 09:52 AM

I think the only real solution is to use the SpamAssassin spam filtering features, which require a Full level account.

Adding static rules is only going to catch repeated similar spam messages. The many spam filtering rules automatically provided by a Full account normally reduces the spam level to nearly zero.

Bill

jolycu · 17 Feb 2006, 12:08 PM

Thanks for your reply Bill. My brother-in-law gets maybe 2-3 legitamate emails a day, so I don't think I can convince him to pay for email on a recurring basis. A lot of the spam I am able to filter out because there is a common part of the name, although the whole name may change, ie: daysbest or daysworst, etc. I can filter out anything with "days" in the from. The ones that are really driving me crazy use a five or six letter domain name consisting of nonsense letters and change frequently. I've been trying to set up filters based on commonalities in the body of the email.

n5bb · 18 Feb 2006, 10:52 PM

Here's another idea, jolycu. You can set up the Guest account so that only certain messages get through. All other messages (and spam) will be rejected.

After applying my rules shown later in this posting, there are only two ways a message will be allowed into the Inbox:

A secret word must be added to either the Subject of the message or added with a "+"to the address. For example, if the secret word he uses is "4sam" and his normal Fastmail address is "user@fastmail.fm", then the new address would be "user+4sam@fastmail.fm". Or the string "4sam" could be added anywhere on the Subject line. If the secret word is found, then the message will always be accepted.
In addition, a short "strict whitelist" rule would allow him to receive any messages from certain domains or addresses. The secret word is not required for addresses or domains on this list. This should stop all spam from other domains, and you might be able to set up all domains he would likely receive email from.

All other messages (not meeting either rule) are assumed to be spam, and will be permanently deleted.

To try these rules, go to the Define Rules screen in the Guest account. The secret word can be entered at the end of the Rejecting emails section. The strict whitelisting can be added by adding a Rejecting emails rule. Choose "Look in Advanced" and enter the following in the "For text matching" area and then choose the add button:

Code:

not anyof (address :is "X-Mail-from" ["a1@d1.com","a2@d2.com"],address :domain :is "X-Mail-from" ["sent.com","gmail.com"])

Be sure to select Done at the top of the screen to save your results. Of course, you should enter one or more actual complete email addresses where I show "a1@d1.com" and "a2@d2.com", separated as shown. Also enter one or more domains where I show "sent.com" and "gmail.com", separated as shown.

For certain domains, you might not want to whitelist the whole domain (since spam might come from that domain), but instead enter the complete address in the appropriate place. But as long as you don't get spam from certain domains, you can add these to the domain area in my rule. Remember that this is a strict whitelist, which means that only those addresses and domain in the whitelist rule will be received. Any other emails will be discarded (unless the secret rule is in the subject or added with a + to the address).

Bill

17 Feb 2006, 08:47 AM	#1
jolycu Member Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 80	Is member level allowed more reject rules than guest? I'm trying to help my brother-on-law stop some of the spam he receives daily. He has a guest level account, and I've hit the maximum of 100 reject rules allowed at this level. If I upgrade him to Member, will he be allowed more rejection rules, or will I be able to edit the sieve script? He gets tons of the stuff! Thanks!

18 Feb 2006, 10:52 PM	#4
n5bb Intergalactic Postmaster Join Date: May 2004 Location: Irving, Texas Posts: 8,929	Here's another idea, jolycu. You can set up the Guest account so that only certain messages get through. All other messages (and spam) will be rejected. After applying my rules shown later in this posting, there are only two ways a message will be allowed into the Inbox: A secret word must be added to either the Subject of the message or added with a "+"to the address. For example, if the secret word he uses is "4sam" and his normal Fastmail address is "user@fastmail.fm", then the new address would be "user+4sam@fastmail.fm". Or the string "4sam" could be added anywhere on the Subject line. If the secret word is found, then the message will always be accepted. In addition, a short "strict whitelist" rule would allow him to receive any messages from certain domains or addresses. The secret word is not required for addresses or domains on this list. This should stop all spam from other domains, and you might be able to set up all domains he would likely receive email from. All other messages (not meeting either rule) are assumed to be spam, and will be permanently deleted. To try these rules, go to the Define Rules screen in the Guest account. The secret word can be entered at the end of the Rejecting emails section. The strict whitelisting can be added by adding a Rejecting emails rule. Choose "Look in Advanced" and enter the following in the "For text matching" area and then choose the add button: Code: not anyof (address :is "X-Mail-from" ["a1@d1.com","a2@d2.com"],address :domain :is "X-Mail-from" ["sent.com","gmail.com"]) Be sure to select Done at the top of the screen to save your results. Of course, you should enter one or more actual complete email addresses where I show "a1@d1.com" and "a2@d2.com", separated as shown. Also enter one or more domains where I show "sent.com" and "gmail.com", separated as shown. For certain domains, you might not want to whitelist the whole domain (since spam might come from that domain), but instead enter the complete address in the appropriate place. But as long as you don't get spam from certain domains, you can add these to the domain area in my rule. Remember that this is a strict whitelist, which means that only those addresses and domain in the whitelist rule will be received. Any other emails will be discarded (unless the secret rule is in the subject or added with a + to the address). Bill

17 Feb 2006, 09:52 AM	#2
n5bb Intergalactic Postmaster Join Date: May 2004 Location: Irving, Texas Posts: 8,929	I think the only real solution is to use the SpamAssassin spam filtering features, which require a Full level account. Adding static rules is only going to catch repeated similar spam messages. The many spam filtering rules automatically provided by a Full account normally reduces the spam level to nearly zero. Bill

17 Feb 2006, 12:08 PM	#3
jolycu Member Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 80	Thanks for your reply Bill. My brother-in-law gets maybe 2-3 legitamate emails a day, so I don't think I can convince him to pay for email on a recurring basis. A lot of the spam I am able to filter out because there is a common part of the name, although the whole name may change, ie: daysbest or daysworst, etc. I can filter out anything with "days" in the from. The ones that are really driving me crazy use a five or six letter domain name consisting of nonsense letters and change frequently. I've been trying to set up filters based on commonalities in the body of the email.