drkwc wrote:
> "conservative" means vs "aggressive".

"conservative" = setting a higher spam score threshold to ensure that LESS 
legitimate mail mistakenly blocked, even if that means that more spam makes it 
into the inbox

"aggressive" = setting a lower spam score threshold with a goal of blocking 
MORE spam, even if it means that the amount of legit mail (FP) being mistakenly 
blocked increases

Generally, there always a trade-off. HOWEVER--adding to SA just the right 
combinations of add-on anti-spam tools and non-default DNSBLs can often defy 
that trade-off and give you more of the "best of both"... that being more spam 
blocked without incurring a corresponding increase in FPs. Many (including many 
on this SA list) have tweaked the SA default settings, including adding extra 
add-ins and DNSBLs, and then achieved higher spam catch rates without a 
corresponding increase of FPs. But lowering the score (alone) to block more 
spam will definitely lead to more FPs. And raising it (alone) will lead to more 
spam getting into inboxes.

In fact, Justin Mason has an excellent blog post on the effects of raising or 
lowering your SA spam threshold on both spam catch-rates and FP rates. He 
includes some excellent graphs.

Read about it here:

http://taint.org/2008/02/29/155648a.html

-- 
Rob McEwen
http://dnsbl.invaluement.com/
r...@invaluement.com
+1 (478) 475-9032


Reply via email to