You are viewing a plain text version of this content. The canonical link for it is here.
Posted to users@spamassassin.apache.org by Don Saklad <ds...@zurich.csail.mit.edu> on 2004/09/07 17:43:45 UTC
Usability. Spamassassin.
How to use spamassassin explanations have not worked out for people
with no mastery of computers. There are neophytes and others not agile
with the learning curve unable to use spamassassin.
Apparently compiling a list of frequent terms and sorting through
the emacs rmail do help a little bit, for example...
...the list of quoted terms would not allow this message through !
Re: Usability. Spamassassin.
Posted by Julian Field <jk...@ecs.soton.ac.uk>.
At 16:43 07/09/2004, Don Saklad wrote:
>How to use spamassassin explanations have not worked out for people
>with no mastery of computers. There are neophytes and others not agile
>with the learning curve unable to use spamassassin.
1. Install MailScanner. Plenty of installation help available, and it's
really very easy, virtually everyone gets going with no assistance at all.
2. Download SpamAssassin.
3. perl Makefile.PL ; make ; make install
In MailScanner.conf, find the line that says "Use SpamAssassin = no" and
change it to "yes".
Start up MailScanner.
No procmail, no sendmail.cf changes, no spamc/spamd, no extra
"spamassassin" script, nothing.
--
Julian Field Teaching Systems Manager
jkf@ecs.soton.ac.uk Electronics & Computer Science
Tel. 023 8059 2817 University of Southampton
Southampton SO17 1BJ
Re: Solaris 9, CommuniGate, and Spamassassin
Posted by "Mark Wendt (Contractor)" <we...@kingcrab.nrl.navy.mil>.
David,
Thank you! I'll go take a peek at the web site. CommuniGate is
all new to me, and any help is wonderful. I continually lobbied for using
sendmail, but was out voted...
Thanks again,
Mark
At 01:16 PM 9/8/2004, David Birnbaum wrote:
>Mark,
>
>We set up our own integration package; however, you probably want
>something like CGPSA - http://www.tffenterprises.com/cgpsa, which is a
>pretty nice full-featured setup.
>
>Cheers,
>
>David.
>
>-----
>
>On Wed, 8 Sep 2004, Mark Wendt (Contractor) wrote:
>
>>We've been long time users of sendmail with Solaris, along with
>>SpamAssassin, procmail, and John Hardin's ESD for virus scanning (thanks
>>John, it's worked great!) for the last couple of years. We're in the
>>process of upgrading our server, hardware wise, and will also be
>>switching over to CommuniGate for our mail. This is a first time
>>operational install of CommuniGate for me, and I was hoping to be able to
>>integrate SpamAssassin into the mix. I've noticed a few folks here on
>>the list are using CommuniGate, and I was wondering if anybody had a nice
>>how-to for making the two play well in the data sandbox.
>>
>>Thanks,
>>Mark
>>
>>
Re: Solaris 9, CommuniGate, and Spamassassin
Posted by David Birnbaum <da...@pins.net>.
Mark,
We set up our own integration package; however, you probably want
something like CGPSA - http://www.tffenterprises.com/cgpsa, which is a
pretty nice full-featured setup.
Cheers,
David.
-----
On Wed, 8 Sep 2004, Mark Wendt (Contractor) wrote:
> We've been long time users of sendmail with Solaris, along with SpamAssassin,
> procmail, and John Hardin's ESD for virus scanning (thanks John, it's worked
> great!) for the last couple of years. We're in the process of upgrading our
> server, hardware wise, and will also be switching over to CommuniGate for our
> mail. This is a first time operational install of CommuniGate for me, and I
> was hoping to be able to integrate SpamAssassin into the mix. I've noticed a
> few folks here on the list are using CommuniGate, and I was wondering if
> anybody had a nice how-to for making the two play well in the data sandbox.
>
> Thanks,
> Mark
>
>
>
Solaris 9, CommuniGate, and Spamassassin
Posted by "Mark Wendt (Contractor)" <we...@kingcrab.nrl.navy.mil>.
We've been long time users of sendmail with Solaris, along with
SpamAssassin, procmail, and John Hardin's ESD for virus scanning (thanks
John, it's worked great!) for the last couple of years. We're in the
process of upgrading our server, hardware wise, and will also be switching
over to CommuniGate for our mail. This is a first time operational install
of CommuniGate for me, and I was hoping to be able to integrate
SpamAssassin into the mix. I've noticed a few folks here on the list are
using CommuniGate, and I was wondering if anybody had a nice how-to for
making the two play well in the data sandbox.
Thanks,
Mark
Re: Usability. Spamassassin.
Posted by Tom Meunier <to...@mvps.org>.
Don Saklad wrote:
>Here's the original question that did not get through !...
>http://zork.net/~dsaklad/usabilityspamassassin.html
>
>
>
Are you aware that no question actually appears anywhere on that page?
It seems like it's perhaps a statement of frustration.
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
Re: Usability. Spamassassin.
Posted by Don Saklad <ds...@zurich.csail.mit.edu>.
Here's the original question that did not get through !...
http://zork.net/~dsaklad/usabilityspamassassin.html
Re: Usability. Spamassassin.
Posted by Bob Apthorpe <ap...@cynistar.net>.
On Wed, 08 Sep 2004 09:55:08 -0400 Don Saklad <ds...@zurich.csail.mit.edu> wrote:
> See also
> usability
> http://www.google.com/search?q=define:+usability
Please rephrase this in the form of a question.
-- Bob
Re: Usability. Spamassassin.
Posted by Don Saklad <ds...@zurich.csail.mit.edu>.
See also
usability
http://www.google.com/search?q=define:+usability
Re: Usability. Spamassassin.
Posted by Martin Hepworth <ma...@solid-state-logic.com>.
NM Public wrote:
<snip>
>
> And then say something like: If you do not immediately know the answer
> to all these questions, you should not be installing or administering
> SpamAssassin (unless it is for educational purposes and for processing
> only *your* email).
>
> The Procmail web site needs this too!
> NM
>
already there on the front page
****************************
Note: This is the home page for the main open-source SpamAssassin
distribution. Packages downloaded here contain UNIX-oriented front-end
scripts. Versions for Windows, commercial versions, and other
front-ends, are listed on the wiki.
If you were sent here because you received an e-mail message which
was modified by SpamAssassin, please go to this page.
*************************************
Although it would be nice if the links above actually looked like links
to Joe Average rather then being in the same colour as the actual text!!
--
Martin Hepworth
Snr Systems Administrator
Solid State Logic
Tel: +44 (0)1865 842300
**********************************************************************
This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and
intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they
are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify
the system manager.
This footnote confirms that this email message has been swept
for the presence of computer viruses and is believed to be clean.
**********************************************************************
Re: Usability. Spamassassin.
Posted by NM Public <ag...@nm.deflexion.com>.
On 7 Sep 2004 Bob Apthorpe (apthorpe+sa@cynistar.net) wrote:
> [...]
>
> If the answer is 'a WinXP user who retrieves mail via POP3 with Outlook
> and who does not use the command line and does not program, not even a
> little bit, and who wants a button to press to make spam go away' then
> the answer is probably not to use SpamAssassin directly but to use some
> commercial product instead.
Excellent post Bob. I think that there needs to be a big note on
the SpamAssassin web site that says something like this:
* * * SpamAssassin is for system administrators * * *
Before you even think about installing it, take this quiz
And then have a link to a quiz that includes things like:
* What is an MTA?
* What is an MDA?
* What is an MSA?
* What is an MUA?
* What is SMTP?
* What is IMAP?
* What is POP3?
* What is the structure of an email message?
* What is the structure of a mailbox?
* What is "the envelope"
* How can you determine the original envelope recipient address?
* How can you determine the original envelope sender address?
* Draw a diagram that illustrates how mail flows to your MUA from
the Internet.
* Draw a diagram that illustrates how mail flows out of your MUA
to the Internet.
* Write a regular expression that will match a line that begins
with the string 'From:' and contains the email address
'nm@example.com' (make sure that your regexp will not match on
any other email address)
* If an email message includes this header
From: nm@example.com
What does that tell you about the message?
And then say something like: If you do not immediately know the
answer to all these questions, you should not be installing or
administering SpamAssassin (unless it is for educational purposes
and for processing only *your* email).
The Procmail web site needs this too!
NM
--
Infinite Ink: <http://www.ii.com/>
Reverse Spam Filtering: <http://www.ii.com/internet/messaging/spam/>
Procmail Quick Start: <http://www.ii.com/internet/robots/procmail/qs/>
IMAP Service Providers: <http://www.ii.com/internet/messaging/imap/isps/>
Re: Usability. Spamassassin.
Posted by Bob Apthorpe <ap...@cynistar.net>.
Hi,
On Tue, 07 Sep 2004 22:26:58 -0400 Don Saklad <ds...@zurich.csail.mit.edu> wrote:
> ...to put into action or service : avail oneself of : employ
>
> Click on the verb
> use[2, verb]
> at
> http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=use&x=15&y=15
That really doesn't help, now does it?
There are many different ways to use SpamAssassin:
* at the server level
- pre-acceptance (perhaps as a greylisting policy test or a
reject-after-SMTP-DATA-phase filter)
- pre-delivery, as a delivery policy agent (/dev/null or put in user's
spool)
- as an egress filter to detect outgoing spam
* at the client level
- as part of a POP3 or IMAP proxy
- as a part of a procmail, maildrop, or other MDA or MUA filter
* as an analysis tool
- for getting aggregate stats on mail traffic
- for custom-tuning scores
- for analyzing outgoing messages to increase deliverability
* as part of a commercial or proprietary "filtering solution"
- SAProxy Pro, Can It, Barracuda, <insert product name here>, ...
* or something else
- detect spam to forums, message boards, wikis, and blogs
Depending on your definition of user, any of these is a possible use.
It's not possible to provide help to neophyte users unless we know
something about the user, where in the message stream SA is applied, and
the context in which SA is called (directly as a script, spamc/spamd,
through a proxy, through a MTA plugin, through a client/MUA plugin,
through some commercial package, etc.)
If the answer is 'a WinXP user who retrieves mail via POP3 with Outlook
and who does not use the command line and does not program, not even a
little bit, and who wants a button to press to make spam go away' then
the answer is probably not to use SpamAssassin directly but to use some
commercial product instead.
hth,
-- Bob
Re: Usability. Spamassassin.
Posted by Don Saklad <ds...@zurich.csail.mit.edu>.
...to put into action or service : avail oneself of : employ
Click on the verb
use[2, verb]
at
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=use&x=15&y=15
Re: Usability. Spamassassin.
Posted by Robert Menschel <Ro...@Menschel.net>.
Hello Don,
Tuesday, September 7, 2004, 8:43:45 AM, you wrote:
DS> How to use spamassassin explanations have not worked out for people
DS> with no mastery of computers. There are neophytes and others not agile
DS> with the learning curve unable to use spamassassin.
What do you mean by "to use spamassassin?"
My neophyte users and others with limitations don't *use* SpamAssassin --
they only benefit from it. /I/ use SpamAssassin, and make sure the email
systems which feed them their emails are well tuned via SA. There's
nothing for the end-users to do except complain if/when they get more
than one or two spam a week.
What types of uses were you thinking your neophytes would do?
Bob Menschel
Re: Usability. Spamassassin.
Posted by Andy Jezierski <aj...@stepan.com>.
Don Saklad <ds...@zurich.csail.mit.edu> wrote on 09/07/2004 10:43:45 AM:
> How to use spamassassin explanations have not worked out for people
> with no mastery of computers. There are neophytes and others not agile
> with the learning curve unable to use spamassassin.
>
> Apparently compiling a list of frequent terms and sorting through
> the emacs rmail do help a little bit, for example...
>
> ...the list of quoted terms would not allow this message through !
Evidently the same applies to people with no mastery of mailing lists.
We are not mind readers, if you don't care to provide additional
information we won't bother responding.
But since it looks like you enjoy links, here's a couple that, unlike some
other links, actually deal with the original question:
USING SpamAssassin
http://wiki.apache.org/spamassassin/UsingSpamAssassin
USING SiteWide
http://wiki.apache.org/spamassassin/UsingSiteWide
Andy