1. Why do I need an EMail Filter?
Many people receive annoying
EMail which they do not wish to receive. Frequently, the unwanted mail
is advertising which you did not request. Many people find this unwanted
EMail to be frustrating and it is often difficult to induce the sender
to st op sending it to you.
Some people never receive
unwanted EMail; those people do not need a filter. Others have had the
misfortune of having their name placed on a mailing list which has been
sold to many different spammers and receive a lot of junk mail.
2. What is Spam?
Spam is unwanted mail which
is sent to many tens of thousands of people, whether or not the recipient
is interested in the content of that EMail. Usually, this mail is in the
form of unsolicited advertising for products
In the discussion of the
RadixNet EMail Filter, we are using the term "spam" to include any unwanted
Email, whether or not it is technically Spam.
Just as with junk paper mail,
some people enjoy receiving spam. However, we have found that most of our
users do not welcome unsolicited mail.
3. Do I have to filter my EMail?
No, the EMail filter is entirely voluntary.
4.
I get junk mail from a different place everyday, what can I do?
The RadixNet EMail Filter
automatically discards any mail which is not explicitly addressed to you.
You do not need to know ahead of time the addresses to block.
5.
Where does the discarded mail go?
The discarded mail is NOT
thrown away until one week has gone by. It is saved in a separate spam
directory so that you can retrieve it if you wish.
6.
Does the discarded mail count against my EMail Quota?
No, the discarded mail is
not saved in your regular mailbox, or in your user directory and does not
count. RadixNet will automatically delete all discarded mail when it is
one week old.
7.
Who can change my EMail Filter?
You must enter both your
Login and Password in order to change the filter.
8.
How can I receive mail which is not addressed to me?
The EMail actually is addressed
to you, in the Blind Carbon Copy, or BCC, line of the mail header. You
cannot see the BCC line, so it appears that the mail is not addressed to
you. Many mailing lists work in this manner.
9.
What is a TO List?
The TO List is the list of
addresses for which you are willing to accept mail. For most people, this
will include your own EMail address and the "To" address of any Email lists
you subscribe to.
10.
What is a White List?
This is a list of addresses
from which you will always accept mail, no matter what the To address might
be. For example, you may wish to accept all EMail from your employer, no
matter how it is address. These are addresses which will appear in the
F rom line of the mail.
11.
What is a Black List?
This is a list of addresses
of people or organizations whose EMail you never wish to receive. These
are addresses which will appear in the From line of the mail.
12.
How do I specify an address?
In the To List, the Black
List and the White List you may specify either a domain name or a specific
email address. Examples:
BadGuy@
aol.com
spamhaus.org
Just place one address per line.
13.
How do I get a Spam Log?
The Spam Log will be sent
to you twice per day, when there has been some mail discarded.
To specifically request a
log of mail discarded since your last log was received, send an email:
To: mylogin@radix.net
Subject: spamlog
To request a log of ALL discarded mail which is still available for you to read:
To: mylogin@radix.net
Subject: spamlog all
14. How Do I retrieve discarded mail?
You can ask for any discarded mail to be (re)sent to your normal
mailbox.
Send an email to yourself:
To: mylogin@radix.net
Subject: resend
Message-Id: <of the particular message you want
The Message-Id line must include
the word "Message-Id" and the angle brackets. you may list as many message
IDs as you wish in the body of one message.
The easiest way to do this
is to simply reply to your Spam Log EMail, adding the word "resend" to
the Subject line and deleting the Message IDs you do not want. It is not
necessary to edit the text of the Spam Log before sending it.
Alternate Approach,
Add the keyword "usefrom" to the subject line and use the From
lines in the spam log.
Example:
To: mylogin@radix.net
Subject: resend usefrom
From niceguy@gooddomain.com Wed Apr 14 09:28:54 1999
15. I set up the filter, but I still get junk
mail!
It is not possible to keep
all unwanted mail out of your mailbox. The RadixNet EMail filter will do
a reasonable job, but will not get rid of mail which is explicitly addressed
to you. If you receive junk mail from a specific place, you can put that
spammer's mail address on your Black List for next time.
16. Technically how does the filter work?
When you update the Web form
a procmail script is automatically generated. Procmail is the standard
method of creating mail filters for individual mailboxes. Your personalized
procmail script is automatically stored in your personal mail directory
on the POP mail server and will be used on the very next piece of mail
you receive.
If you have a shell account
and your mail is on saltmine, the procmail script is NOT automatically
installed. Instead, it is emailed to you so that you can install it yourself.
The main reason for this method is that many of our shell users already
have their own procmail script which may be used in combination with the
EMail Filter.