spamassassin 2.53 & MailScanner

[Gerry Doris]

On Thu, 2003-05-08 at 11:23, Ron E. wrote:
> On Thu, 8 May 2003, Gerry Doris wrote:
>
> > On Thu, 8 May 2003, Ron E. wrote:
> >
> > > Dear All,
> > >
> > > Just wondering if anyone out there has any suggestions for
> > > improving/tweaking SpamAssassin (2.53) settings -- I am running
> > > MailScanner & SpamAssassin 2.53 but still getting a fair amount of spam
> > > not over the default score of 5, or sometimes even with a negative score.
> > >
> > > I'm running a pretty busy system that handles about 15-20k messages per
> > > day.
> > >
> > > I have tried lowering the score threshold but of course then I get more
> > > false positives. I've seen mention that SpamAssassin 2.60 is much improved
> > > but I hesitate to use it at this point.
> > >
> > > One idea I had was enabling Vipul's Razor, but I've never used it. Any
> > > input would be of interest.
> > >
> > > Thanks!
> > >
> > > -Ron
> >
> > I'd install razor and dcc.  They're both trival to install and
> > spamassassin uses them automagically if they're available.  They can give
> > a large hit to spam (I've seen 1-3 points each) which can really separate
> > the spam and ham!  I also haven't noticed any false positives from these
> > services.
> >
> > --
> > Gerry
> >
> > "The lyfe so short, the craft so long to learne"  Chaucer
> >
>
> That sounds pretty good, Gerry -- I just have one question - is there any
> risk with either one of these of rejecting legitimate mail?
>
> That is one reason why I don't have the various RBLs enabled....
>
> Thanks!
>
> -Ron

No risk.  SpamAssassin/razor/dcc only score messages.  They don't
delete/reject anything. Once the total score breaks over a preset
threshold it's flagged as spam.  What to do with these messages is left
up to the admin/user.

By the way, when RBL's are used with either MailScanner or SpamAssassin
(don't use them with both!) they also are used only for scoring.  They
don't reject/block messages.  I believe using them with sendmail will
actually reject the message but that isn't what happens when called from
MailScanner/Spamassassin.

The problem is that some of the RBL's are a little suspect and may score
a ham message enough to have it flagged as spam ie a false positive.



--
Gerry Doris <gerry at dorfam.ca>