SPAM Scoring

As each email message is relayed through smtp.ufl.edu it passes though a filtering framework. This framework consists of many bits of software, each running a different, specific test.

Each of these tests contributes to an overall SPAM score. The higher the score, the more of the individual tests decided that the message was probably SPAM. The SPAM score, and a summary of the individual tests is placed in the headers of the message before it is sent to its destination.

The end-user is responsible for discarding, or specially sorting messages with a high score. If a message marked by the system as SPAM in error, the user should forward the entire message (including the report) to <report-ham@ufl.edu>. If a message that the user thinks is SPAM is not marked as such, they should forward the message to <report-spam@ufl.edu>.

Since some of the tests are self-learning, letting the system administrators know about incorrectly classified messages is important.

If you look at the message's full headers you will see a header named X-Spam-Status. In the tests= section of that header you will see a list of comma seperated test names that matched for that email. You can then look up a one line description of those tests at the SpamAssassin Tests page.