This FAQ is to help explain the SPAM control feature within the Sophocles Mail Manager .

What is Spam control for ?

Spam control is a List Maintainer feature that allows control over the strictness of the spam checking applied to mail messages sent to a list. The Spam score for a message is determined by Spamassassin. Most messages are rated with a score that is negative.

The headers set by Spamassassin are:

X-Spam-Status: 
X-Spam-Level: 

What are the two settings for Spam control?

1. System Default (the default). This will mark a message as likely spam and forward a copy to the maintainer when the Spamassassin score is 3.0 or greater. The originator will not be notified as they usually use a forged address.
2. Strict . This will mark a message as likely spam and forward a copy to the maintainer when the Spamassassin score is 1.0 or greater. The originator will not be notified as they usually use a forged address.

How do I set the Spam Level for a list ?

The Spam level can either be set when a list is created, or when updating a list.

What if messages are incorrectly marked as Spam ?

If messages are being incorrectly marked as spam when the list is set to strict reset the setting "Spam Control" to default. If set to default raise a ticket with IT support forwarding the message with full headers intact.

How do I resend/forward a mail that has been incorrectly marked as suspected Spam to the right destination ?

Sometimes you may receive a message that has been marked as suspect spam but is not. Typically this occurs due to the dynamic IP address that the sender is using being marked in the realtime blacklists as a spam source. The report will mention which realtime blacklist, for example SORBS. To send this on to its destination use the forward facility of your mail client removing the spam warning messages .

06 Jul 2005