So all of this spam discussion has been primarily from the side of how
to filter for it.
When I'm not busy studying game developers and the game industry I'm
the editorial assistant for the peer reviewed journal, Cultural
Anthropology (Chris K's geeks and social imaginaries article was
published in it).
Anyway, lately we've been having a rash of being identified as spam
and getting rejected emails from folks we're requesting to review
articles. We send out all of these emails from a system called
bepress.com which helps us manage submissions, requesting reviewers,
and all of that stuff. We've actually also had a case or two of
authors being given response emails who have not received them.
Sometimes we receive bounces, other times we do not.
The implications are that for those folks we can't get in touch with
over email, we're likely to pick another reviewer, which affects who's
included in the peer-review process.
Here is a sample header (My rpi.edu is forwarded to gmail which you
can see. All emails sent by the system are also sent to the editor,
who has a quasi-guid assigned to them, which you'll also see, though
I'm trimming/editing some of this to prevent spammers from scraping
the info):
Delivered-To: casey[o][d][o]nnell AT gmail {dot} com
Received: by 10.78.137.7 with SMTP id k7cs612785hud;
Mon, 5 Mar 2007 06:40:02 -0800 (PST)
Received: by 10.70.59.20 with SMTP id h20mr9822767wxa.1173105601516;
Mon, 05 Mar 2007 06:40:01 -0800 (PST)
Return-Path: <[My "GUID" I guess: editor-can-1079-716961] {AT}
services [DOT] bepress {dot} com>
Received: from smtp7.server.rpi.edu (smtp7.server.rpi.edu [128.113.2.227])
by mx.google.com with ESMTP id h9si5145384wxd.2007.03.05.06.40.00;
Mon, 05 Mar 2007 06:40:01 -0800 (PST)
Received-SPF: neutral (google.com: 128.113.2.227 is neither permitted
nor denied by best guess record for domain of [My "GUID" I guess:
editor-can-1079-716961] {AT} services [DOT] bepress {dot} com)
Received: from mail.bepress.com (outbound.bepress.com [64.62.134.27])
by smtp7.server.rpi.edu (8.13.1/8.13.1) with ESMTP id l25Edx5j015677
for <odonnc [AT] rpi {dot} edu>; Mon, 5 Mar 2007 09:39:59 -0500
Received: from localhost.localdomain (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1])
by mail.bepress.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 668681F9AF0
for <odonnc {at} rpi [DOT] edu>; Mon, 5 Mar 2007 06:39:59 -0800 (PST)
X-Context-Code: Journal:services.bepress.com/can
X-Envelope-To: odonnc {[AT]} rpi {DoT} edu
X-From-UserID: 716961
X-UserId: 716961
X-Article-Id: 1079
Cc: "Assigned Editor" <[My "GUID" I guess: editor-can-1079-716961]
{AT} services [DOT] bepress {dot} com>
Subject: Request to review "The Indians White Man: Ho-Chunk Media
Activism, Indian News, and an Indigenous Critique of Whiteness " for
Cultural Anthropology
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="rwEMma7ioTxnRzrJ"
To: First Last <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
From: "Casey K O'Donnell" <[My "GUID" I guess: editor-can-1079-716961]
{AT} services [DOT] bepress {dot} com>
Message-Id: <20070305143959.668681F9AF0 [AT] mail {dot} bepress {DOT} com>
Date: Mon, 5 Mar 2007 06:39:59 -0800 (PST)
X-Bayes-Prob: 0.0001 (Score 0)
X-RPI-SA-Score: 0.00 () [Hold at 3.00]
X-CanItPRO-Stream: odonnc {AT} rpi [dot] edu
X-Canit-Stats-ID: 8806217 - 3c0f18636ff9 (trained as not-spam)
X-Antispam-Training: Train as spam:
http://respite.rpi.edu/b.php?c=s&i=8806217&m=3c0f18636ff9
X-Antispam-Training: Train as non-spam:
http://respite.rpi.edu/b.php?c=n&i=8806217&m=3c0f18636ff9
X-Antispam-Training: Cancel training:
http://respite.rpi.edu/b.php?c=f&i=8806217&m=3c0f18636ff9
X-Scanned-By: CanIt (www . roaringpenguin . com) on 128.113.2.227
You can of course see RPI's scanning system's stuff in there too.
Which I've added bepress.com to as a trusted host, because for a while
even our school was blocking these messages, or at least trapping
them.
So, is there something about this email header that is "spammy"? I
might presume it's the funny reply to email address. I've also had
occasions where I do get a bounced email and then attempt to send
manually and still get a bounce based on content, which I've also
pasted a sample below. There is so much spam now pulling from
literature that I'm also concerned that something about the content is
becoming spammy because it isn't "typical" email writing.
Any thoughts?
Casey
-- Sample Email --
Dear Faculty Name,
I'm hoping that you will do me the favor of reviewing a recent
submission to Cultural Anthropology titled "The Indian's White Man:
Ho-Chunk Media Activism, ...". The abstract is at the end of this
message.
We are committed to providing authors with unparalleled service, so
please only agree to do this review if you really can complete a
quality report in 42 days.
Please let us know whether you are willing to review this article, by
going to the following Web address and selecting the appropriate
option there:
http://services.bepress.com/cgi/...
Log in to your account with your email address ([EMAIL PROTECTED]). If
you have forgotten your password, click the 'Forget your password?'
link and have your password emailed to you immediately. Your password
and email address can be changed if necessary by clicking the 'Edit
Profile' link on the My Account page once you log in.
If you have any trouble accessing the article, please contact
journalemailaddy for assistance.
You can submit your review by returning to the same page mentioned above.
ABSTRACT Representations of white Americans as maixede, or
'big-knives,' have been part of the oral tradition of the Ho-Chunk
people of Wisconsin since the early 19th century. This article argues
that these representations constitute an indigenous critique of the
racism experienced by members of ...
Casey O'Donnell,
Editorial Assistant
Jacki Swearingen,
Managing Editor
Mike Fortun and Kim Fortun Editors,
Cultural Anthropology
-- End Sample --
--
Casey O'Donnell
RPI STS Department - PhD Candidate
http://homepage.mac.com/codonnell/
