- Commencing with version 1.3, Email Magician offers 4 types of spammer address filters and quick solutions to their creation. These supplement Email Magician's current nearly 200 subject-based spam filters. You configure spammer address filters on the (newly revealed) right-hand side of the Spam Filter Maker window.
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- The main spam address filter is an intersects filter of automatically collected spammer addresses. The second type consists of know spam domains. Next, there are leading character string filters (these match the initial characters of spammer addresses).Finally, there are filters for inner character strings (these are enclosed in quotes in the spammer address field).
Getting started with spam address collection
Open the right hand side of the Spam Filter Maker palette by clicking on the latch at the upper right of the window. There, you will see a field that contains four types of information corresponding to the four types of filters mentioned above.
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- 1) Actual spammer addresses (format: spammer@domain.com)
2) Spam domains (format: @domain.com)
3) Leading character strings (format: casino) note: a single word without @ or quotes.
4) Inner character strings: (format "xxx") note: a single word within quotes
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- Actual spammer addresses are gathered together to create a nickname called "Spammers" that is placed in your "EMMaddressbookNicknames" address book. A single "interesects nickname" filter is created to direct mail from these addresses to your spambox.
Spam domains ( @ plus domain name ) are used to create filters of the form "from: contains" that catch anything from those domains and place their messages in your spambox.
Leading character strings (unquoted single word without @) are used to create filters of the form "from: starts with" that catch anything from addresses starting with that character string, and transfer those messages to your spambox.
Finally, inner character strings (words in quotes and without @) are used to create filters of the form "from: contains" that catch anything from addresses containing those strings, and place those messages in your spambox.
Collecting Spammer Addresses
Simply press the "Collect Addresses" button to collect spammer addresses from your chosen spambox while you are in Email Magician. Note that these are merged with any items currently in your spammer addresses field. Duplicates are automatically discarded.
You can also collect spammer addresses while you are in Eudora if you install the collection AppleScript (press the "Install Collection Script" button in Email Magician to do this). Subsequently, an "EMM Collect Spammers" option will become available from Eudora's "Scripts" menu the next time you launch Eudora. Note that collecting spam addresses by way of this AppleScript takes much longer than collecting spam addresses from within Email Magician.
You can manually add addresses, domains, or leading or inner character strings to the spammer address field by double-clicking on the list. You will be prompted to use the formats mentioned above.
Also, option-clicking on the "Collect Addresses" button will let you collect spam addresses from a mailbox other than your designated spambox. This is useful if you keep a separate box for items that might have "sneaked" past your spam filters. Or, if you happen to notice that everything in your HTML box happens to be from spammers you may want to include all those addresses in your spammer address list.
You may clear the Spammer Addresses field by pressing the "Clear" button at the upper right of the field. You will be offered the choice to clear the entire field, or just "complete addresses" leaving domains, leading character strings, and inner character strings.
Option-double-click an item in the Spammer Addresses field to delete it. Hold the shift key down (with the option key) while clicking to transfer it to the Spammer Exclusions list (see below).
There are many approaches to using Email Magician's Spammer Address Collection features. One strategy is to allow spam to "build up" in your spambox (or trash, if you have designated the trash as your spambox). Periodically visually scan your spam box to remove messages that may have been mis-filtered, or, if you are using the trash as your spambox, might originate from addresses you do not want considered in the spammer address collection process. Then, use the "Collect Addresses" option to bring those addresses into Email Magician. Once you have brought them into Email Magician, there is no reason to keep them in your spambox anymore, so clear out that box in Eudora. Next, consider excluding some of the addresses (see "Spammer Exclulsions" below), and/or consolidating some of the addresses (see "Consolidating Addresses" below).
Spammer Exclusions
You may desire to exclude certain domains or addresses from the spammer address collection process. One reason for this scenario might be the fact that you use your Trash box as your spambox. Thus, not all the addresses in your spambox (Trash) might necessarilly be from spammers.
Addresses or domains to be ignored can be entered in the Spammer Exclusions field below the main Spammer Addresses field. Use the "@domain.com" format (without the quotes) to add domains to this list. The defaults provide some likely candidates for exclusion.
A copy of the Spammer Exclusions list is maintained in the Preferences window on the "Spam & Urgent Filtering..." page. Changes to one list will be reflected in the other list as soon as you exit the field.
Some addresses are automatically entered in the Spammer Exclusions field. These include:
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- 1) Primary users (your primary account name or names as entered when you press the big "Make Filters and Boxes" button)
2) Addresses and domains listed in the "Never make filters for these addresses or domains" field on the "Special Handling" page of the Preferences window.
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- You may sort the Spammer Exclusions list by pressing the "Sort" button at the upper right of the field.
To transfer items from the Spammer Address field to the Spammer Exclusions list, double-click on the address or domain in the Spammer Address field while pressing both the shift and option keys.
Consolidating Addresses
One powerful feature of Email Magician's Spammer Address filtering is the option to consolidate a group of addresses with the same domains into a spam domain filter, or to consolidate a group of addresses with identical leading or inner character strings into a single filter.
To begin the consolidation process, double-click an item in the Spammer Address field while pressing the command key. Email Magician will compare the address with all the other items in the field to see if any possibilities for consolidation exist. If so, you will be presented with a dialog box listing what Email Magician has discovered. This will include the number of addresses with the same domain (if any), the number of addresses with the same leading characters (if any), and/or the number of addresses that contain matching inner strings (if any). You will be give the option of consolidating that address into a single filter of your choice. This will delete all the addresses from the list that would be caught by the new consolidated filter as they are no longer necessary.
While examining the Spammer Address field for candidates for consolidation, it may be helpful to switch back and forth between viewing the list sorted by account name or by domain name. Use the radio-buttons below the field to make this switch. One effective strategy is to go through the list twice: once sorted by domains and again, sorted by accounts.
Placement of Spammer Address Filters
The four types of Spammer Adddress filters are placed at the front of your filter list. They will execute before all other filters and thus speed up the filtering process considerably.
Note that only registered copies of Email Magician will actually write Spammer Address filters to your filter file, however, unregistered users can collect, consolidate, and exclude spammer addresses to become familiar with the process.
