Questions to False Positives

[Kerstin Thomaßen <ke...@elmer-digital.de>]

Hi,

I am using the Tool Inxmail in Germany where SpamAssassin is used.

When designing a Newsletter, I receive the following Spam Problem when testing it for Spam:
[cid:image004.png@01D8B0C8.7C0EC480]

Investigation on this Spam Problem, I found out, that all my elements with a blue background and white text are the problem for this. As soon as I mark all text with red color oder in a lighter grey, the spam problem is solved.

The page https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/SPAMASSASSIN/AvoidingFpsForSenders does have the tip to make sure that text colors and sizes are distinct enough and large enough to read, but this does not help me with my issue.
In my opinion blue background and white texts is enough difference to read. Attached to this mail, you can find both examples, white and red texts.

Is this issue known? Why is the color white in text marked as spam?

I am happy for any tips or solutions beside changing the color.

Thank you

Kerstin Thomaßen
Digital Marketing // People & Culture Manager
[signature_531479163]
[cid:image002.png@01D8B0C6.32FBB700]
+49 2161 9022 103

[cid:image003.png@01D8B0C6.32FBB700]
kerstin.thomassen@elmer-digital.de<ma...@elmer-digital.de>
Office: Schleswiger Str. 9, 41068 Mönchengladbach​


________________________________

Elmer Dienstleistungs GmbH & Co. KG, Industriestraße 44, 46240 Bottrop
Sitz der Gesellschaft: Warendorf; Registergericht: Amtsgericht Münster, HRA 7060
PhG.: Elmer Dienstleistungs Verwaltungs GmbH, Warendorf; Registergericht: Amtsgericht Münster, HRB 10863
Geschäftsführer: Karl Elmer, Meinolf Hördemann (Vorsitzender), Bastian Hördemann, Armin Nowak, Christian Nickel

Re: Questions to False Positives

[Bill Cole <sa...@billmail.scconsult.com>]

On 2022-08-25 at 10:34:17 UTC-0400 (Thu, 25 Aug 2022 14:34:17 +0000)
Kerstin Thomaßen <ke...@elmer-digital.de>
is rumored to have said:

> Is this issue known? Why is the color white in text marked as spam?

It's not. Your message apparently hits the rule HTML_FONT_LOW_CONTRAST 
which currently has a very low score (0.001: an informational 
placeholder) when used in a default configuration with network tests 
enabled. If you're using a testing tool that doesn't require a full 
delivered message, it may be using the 'ruleset 0' score (currently 
0.713) which is more than a placeholder but far less than an absolute 
'spam' classification.

SA rules express real-world partial correlations. Hitting 
HTML_FONT_LOW_CONTRAST correlates weakly with a message being spam. 
Alone, it WILL NOT cause your email to be marked as spam.

> I am happy for any tips or solutions beside changing the color.

Don't expect to get ANY message to never hit any negative SA rules at 
all. If you insist on engaging in the public nuisance of HTML mail, you 
*will* match some rules, likely totalling around 2. The default 
threshold for SA to classify a message as spam is 5.0. If your total 
score is below 5, most SA sites will deliver it unimpeded. If your total 
score is between 3 and 5, SOME more strict sites may reject, quarantine, 
or tag your mail. If your total score is below 3 and you're still 
worried about it: take a break, step outside, touch grass.

One way to avoid that specific rule is to render problematic sections as 
images. I don't advise that, as it is a path towards a complex of rules 
that look at image/text ratio which are much riskier than 
HTML_FONT_LOW_CONTRAST.


-- 
Bill Cole
bill@scconsult.com or billcole@apache.org
(AKA @grumpybozo and many *@billmail.scconsult.com addresses)
Not Currently Available For Hire