On 8/12/2014 9:48 AM, David F. Skoll wrote:
On Tue, 12 Aug 2014 09:41:07 -0400
Alex <mysqlstud...@gmail.com> wrote:
I define "legitimate" as having been sent through a reputable
company's mail system. Chances are, Computer Associates aren't
spamming people.
I disagree with that. In my opinion, only two criteria are needed
to define spam:
1) An objective criterion: Was the message unsolicited?
Unfortunately, that can be difficult to determine. People frequently
put themselves on mailing lists as a consequence of creating a free
account on a website or some such and then forget about it. A large,
well known, reputable company is unlikely to be sending spam. So if
you're on their list, you probably added yourself somehow. Also, their
unsubscribe links tend to work, so it is much less work to simply
unsubscribe yourself than to figure out how to get the emails marked as
spam (which might affect someone else who actually does want the emails).
2) A subjective criterion: Is the message unwanted?
How the message gets to you is beside the point.
Two of the three messages, although unwanted, weren't necessarily
unsolicited. Ideally I'd like to stop these messages before the users
sees them, but how are we to know whether an individual user wants a
legitimate email or not?
You ask them. You use an anti-spam system that allows per-user decisions
about spaminess.
But you still have to consider point 1. If a user starts complaining
that he's getting spam from Amazon, I'm not going to mess with SA, I'm
going to tell him to click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the
email. (Assuming that it actually is from Amazon, of course)
--
Bowie
