White-list junk mail

On 10.5.8 Server, is there a way to specify a white list for trusted senders? For some reason the junk mail filter is flagging users @ourdomain as junk to the Apple Mail clients in the same domain.

Edit the file /etc/mail/spamassassin/local.cf
and add one of two flavors of white list..
The first assumes you know the source mail server the email address originates from and is slightly more secure.
whitelistfromrcvd [email protected] skytel.com
Or just whitelist the email address regardless of where it comes from.
whitelist_from [email protected]
Or if you want to whitelist the whole domain
whitelist_from *@domain.com

Similar Messages

White List for Mail

I've stopped receiving mail from a trusted domain. I may have accidentally marked it as junk, but I'm not sure now how to fix it. I reset the junk mail filter in the preferences sheet. Is there some other place I have check or is there a white sheet list that I can update somehow?
I'm trying to receive mail from the fi.com domain to my mobileme account.
Thanks,
Jeff

The Mail.app Junk filter is a red herring. The filter is based on message content, not on the sender domain. Furthermore, the filter does not prevent a message from being received. It simply flags a message after it is downloaded. Unless you have customized the junk processing to automatically delete flagged messages, you would still get them -- although they might land in the Junk mailbox.

Is there a comprehensive list of what X-Spam headers Apple Mail will look at when determining junk mail status?

Apple Mail has a preference to 'Trust junk mail headers in messages' but I can not find a list of what those headers are. By trial and error I've learned the "X-Spam-Flag: YES" will work (exactly that, no extra info), but I'd like to know what other options there are... particularly if I can send a score/rating back and have it look at that.
But I can't find a list of supported headers. The Internet is full of "common spam headers" and yet none of them actually seem to work -- and lots of people who can't get it working with spamassassin which is incredibly common...
So... is there such a list?

I'm in the process of trying to get this information for a client. Even with a paid AppleCare agreement, the only answer I'm getting is "look in the forums" and "look on the developer site" (although I have to give credit to the Tier-1 rep who's trying to help me.) The impression I'm getting is that they consider an exact list of header names to be proprietary information for some reason, and are going to great pains to try not to give out the information, but also to not create ill will amongst their customers by explicitly saying "that's proprietary".

Junk mail shows 30 messages but none showing up in actual list

Ok, don't I have to rebuild something to solve this problem? Junk mail is showing I have 53 messages in it but none are in the actual list of messages. How do I fix this?

Alright, I think I have a solution, or at least it worked for me. It's a bit of a workaround but it does the trick.
1. Created a new user in "Accounts"
2. Set up the email account freshly in my new user mail
3. Once I verified that it worked I copied my com.apple.mail.plist which is in user/library/preferences/... to a hard drive.
4. I copied or archived/compressed my Mail folder which is in user/library.. and copied that to my external hard drive.
5. I went back to my "Account" user with the corrupt email account and went to my Mail folder and archived and compressed that folder and copied it to my hard drive under a different mail name(So not to overwrite the other mail archive. This is only to be able to import mail back into my account once I've got mail working again.
6. Went to my hard drive and to the com.apple.mail.plist and I overwrite the previous plist in the preferences folder on my /user/library/preferences/...
7. I uncompressed the NEW EMAIL MAIL folder on my external hard drive, and then I dragged and copied it over the other MAIL folder in my user/library/... folder.
8. I opened my mail to find everything clean but my new email account from the other user created.
9. I began importing my old mail and then dragging it back into my INBOX to repopulate my mail. I then did the same for my signatures, mailboxes and whatever else I needed.
Everything seems to be working great so far, will let you know if I come across any hiccups. Hope this works for all of you.

White listing an email domain so it is never marked as junk

I am setup on Exchange 2007. Mail app works fine with this setup. Only issue is there are many emails sent from people in our company that are identified as Junk by Mail app.
I like to while list our companies domain so senders from that domain are never identified as junk.
Is that possible?
I can not see an option like that and it seems to me that this would be a no brainer. Am I missing something?
Regards

Unfortunately, the built-in Junk Mail filter is pretty weak. Try SpamSieve instead.

How can I permanently change color of junk mail listing to black?

How can I permanently change color of my junk mail listings? It is light brown and difficult to read.

I'm trying to do the same...no problem choosing the color, but when I used an advanced rule, I no longer have the option in a drop down menu to "erase junk mail". Seems like any combination of an advanced junk mail rule wipes out the option to erase junk mail, and I don't want mail to automatically delete my junk email. I tried outting a stop evaluating after the text color, but that didn't work.
OSX 10.7.5 late 2006 MacBook Pro

James Send to Junk Mail

Hello , i am using james 2.2.0 installed on a server with a online DNS , it recives mails properly , but when i try to send emails ( also when using Authenticated SMTP) , mail go to junk mails ( as hotmail and yahoo) , When i use Outlook express outside the server to send mail i get the following error :
The message could not be sent because one of the recipients was rejected by the server. The rejected e-mail address was '[email protected]'. Subject 'hahahhaha', Account: 'mytrans-port.com', Server: 'mytrans-port.com', Protocol: SMTP, Server Response: '550 - Requested action not taken: relaying denied', Port: 25, Secure(SSL): No, Server Error: 550, Error Number: 0x800CCC79
here is my config.xml , Thanks
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE config [
<!ENTITY listserverConfig SYSTEM "../conf/james-listmanager.xml">
<!ENTITY listserverStores SYSTEM "../conf/james-liststores.xml">
<!ENTITY fetchmailConfig SYSTEM "../conf/james-fetchmail.xml">
]>











<config>
   <James>

      
      
      
      
      <postmaster>Postmaster@localhost</postmaster>
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      <servernames autodetect="true" autodetectIP="true">

         <servername>mytrans-port.com</servername>
      </servernames>
      
      
      
      <usernames ignoreCase="true" enableAliases="true" enableForwarding="true"/>
      
      
      <inboxRepository>
         <repository destinationURL="file://var/mail/inboxes/" type="MAIL"/>
      </inboxRepository>
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
   </James>
   
   
   
   
   
    <fetchpop enabled="true">
        
        
        <fetch name="mydomain.com">
            
            <host>mail.mydomain.com</host>
            
            <user>username</user>
            
            <password>pass</password>
            
            <interval>600000</interval>
        </fetch>
    </fetchpop>
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    &fetchmailConfig;
   
   
   
   <spoolmanager>
      
      <threads> 10 </threads>
      
      <mailetpackages>
         <mailetpackage>org.apache.james.transport.mailets</mailetpackage>
      </mailetpackages>
      <matcherpackages>
         <matcherpackage>org.apache.james.transport.matchers</matcherpackage>
      </matcherpackages>
      
      
      
      
      <processor name="root">
         
         
         
         
         
         <mailet match="RelayLimit=30" class="Null"/>
         
         
         
         
         
         <mailet match="InSpammerBlacklist=query.bondedsender.org"
                 class="ToProcessor">
           <processor> transport </processor>
         </mailet>
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         <mailet match="InSpammerBlacklist=dnsbl.njabl.org"
                 class="ToProcessor">
           <processor> spam </processor>
           <notice>550 Requested action not taken: rejected - see http://njabl.org/ </notice>
         </mailet>
         <mailet match="InSpammerBlacklist=relays.ordb.org"
                 class="ToProcessor">
           <processor> spam </processor>
           <notice>550 Requested action not taken: rejected - see http://www.ordb.org/ </notice>
         </mailet>
         
         
         
         <mailet match="All" class="ToProcessor">
            <processor> transport </processor>
         </mailet>
      </processor>
      
      
      
      
      
      
      <processor name="error">
         
         
         
         
         
         <mailet match="All" class="ToRepository">
            <repositoryPath> file://var/mail/error/</repositoryPath>
            
            
         </mailet>
      </processor>
      
      
      <processor name="transport">
        
        
        
         
         <mailet match="RecipientIsLocal" class="LocalDelivery"/>
         
         
         <mailet match="HostIsLocal" class="ToProcessor">
            <processor> local-address-error </processor>
            <notice>550 - Requested action not taken: no such user here</notice>
         </mailet>

         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         <mailet match="RemoteAddrNotInNetwork=127.0.0.1" class="ToProcessor">
            <processor> relay-denied </processor>
            <notice>550 - Requested action not taken: relaying denied</notice>
         </mailet>
         
         
         <mailet match="All" class="RemoteDelivery">
            <outgoing> file://var/mail/outgoing/ </outgoing>
            
            
            
            
            <delayTime> 5 minutes </delayTime>
            <delayTime> 10 minutes </delayTime>
            <delayTime> 45 minutes </delayTime>
            <delayTime> 2 hours </delayTime>
            <delayTime> 3 hours </delayTime>
            <delayTime> 6 hours </delayTime>
            <maxRetries> 25 </maxRetries>
            
            <deliveryThreads> 1 </deliveryThreads>
            
            <sendpartial>false</sendpartial>
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
         </mailet>
      </processor>
      
      
      
      <processor name="spam">
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         <mailet match="All" class="ToRepository">
            <repositoryPath>file://var/mail/spam/</repositoryPath>
            
            
            
            
            
         </mailet>
      </processor>
      
      <processor name="local-address-error">
         
         
         
         
         
         <mailet match="All" class="ToRepository">
            <repositoryPath> file://var/mail/address-error/</repositoryPath>
            
            
         </mailet>
      </processor>
      
      
      <processor name="relay-denied">
         
         
         
         
         
         <mailet match="All" class="ToRepository">
            <repositoryPath>file://var/mail/relay-denied/</repositoryPath>
            
            
         </mailet>
      </processor>
   </spoolmanager>
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   <dnsserver>
      <servers>
         
         
         
      </servers>
      
      
      <autodiscover>true</autodiscover>
      <authoritative>false</authoritative>
   </dnsserver>
   <remotemanager>
      <port>4555</port>
      
      
      
      
      <handler>
         
         
         
         
         
         <helloName autodetect="true">myMailServer</helloName>
         <administrator_accounts>

            
            <account login="username" password="password"/>
         </administrator_accounts>
         <connectiontimeout> 60000 </connectiontimeout>
      </handler>
   </remotemanager>
    
    
    
   <pop3server enabled="true">
      
      
      <port>110</port>
      
      
      
      
      <handler>
         
         
         
         
         
         <helloName autodetect="true">myMailServer</helloName>
         <connectiontimeout>120000</connectiontimeout>
      </handler>
   </pop3server>
    
    
    
   <smtpserver enabled="true">
      
      <port>25</port>
      
      
      
      
      <handler>
         
         
         
         
         
         <helloName autodetect="true">myMailServer</helloName>
         <connectiontimeout>360000</connectiontimeout>
         
         

         
         <authorizedAddresses>127.0.0.0/8</authorizedAddresses>
         
         
         
         
         
         
         <maxmessagesize>0</maxmessagesize>
      </handler>
   </smtpserver>
    
    
    
    
   <nntpserver enabled="true">
   
      
      
      <port>119</port>
      
      
      
      
      <handler>
         
         
         
         
         
         <helloName autodetect="true">myMailServer</helloName>
         <co

hi
you have to change the config.xml to allow the server accept relay mails from your host machine from which you are sendign the mail ...
ie
change
<mailet match="RemoteAddrNotInNetwork=127.0.0.1" class="ToProcessor">
<processor> relay-denied </processor>
<notice>550 - Requested action not taken: relaying denied</notice>
</mailet>
add few more ips (your network / subnet ip)
so that it accpets mails from that machine to be relayed ...
you can also change the smtp autheriZation part and do that ...
any one is enough ..
Regards
Venkat

Mail Version 2.1.1 (752.3) Junk Mail Buttons Don't Work

I have ... Reset junk mail.
The problem occurs before and after junk mail is reset and junk mail learning mode is active for any number of days.
When I get junk mail in my inbox and click on it once and then use either the "Not Junk" icon in Toolbar or "Not Junk" button in message header, Mail treats the message as not junk. When another e-mail arrives from same sender, it's again marked as junk. I've noticed that some messages revert to the "junk" colour even after they are marked as not junk.
I've repaired permissions and restarted the iMac and restarted Mail app.
Wonder if I have the latest version of Mail? Please help. Thanks
iMac 2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB SDRAM Mac OS X (10.4.9) Have dual boot with XP Pro on "other side"

Have you made any changes to the junk filter in Preferences > Junk Mail > Advanced? Try this:
1. Go to Preferences > Junk Mail, disable junk mail filtering, then enable it again. This resets the junk filter rule.
2. Choose either Training or Automatic mode (it doesn’t matter) and leave the other options checked. Click Advanced to see how the junk filter rule is defined now if you want, but don’t change anything there.
3. Reset the junk filter database (Preferences > Junk Mail > Reset).
You can use the Colors palette (Format > Show Colors) to manually change the background highlight of messages in the message list. Although the Colors palette cannot be used to set the foreground color, it can be used to remove it. In particular, choosing either black or white removes both the background highlight and the foreground color of the messages currently selected in the message list.

Open of auto-white list failed

I have spent the last few days getting cyrus & spam assassin to filter junk mail properly, with some success finally. I have followed the helpful Frontline Spam Defense tutorial from Topicdesk.com and also checked permissions on /var/amavis, plus just about every other trick I could find on these fora (mostly thanks to pterobyte).
Although I have now significantly reduced the spam getting through, I am now getting an error in the system log which seems to imply that it cannot create the white list file (presumably from the emails that I have put into the notjunkmail mailbox?):
Dec 30 10:21:47 eddie org.amavis.amavisd[49]: auto-whitelist: open of auto-whitelist file failed: locker: safe_lock: cannot create tmp lockfile /var/amavis/.spamassassin/auto-whitelist.lock.eddie.waveneyrivercentre.co.uk.12 84 for /var/amavis/.spamassassin/auto-whitelist.lock: Permission denied
Contents of /var/amavis is:
amavis-20060719T174524-12574 amavis-20070930T043646-14035
amavis-20060905T092217-09995 amavisd.lock
amavis-20060905T095328-10092 amavisd.pid
amavis-20061007T085000-04020 amavisd.sock
amavis-20061007T085008-04039 clamd
amavis-20061023T192617-21733 clamd.pid
amavis-20061023T194248-21871 db
amavis-20061030T064013-20653 tmp
amavis-20061030T065355-20681 whitelist_sender
plus a load more amavis-number files earlier in the list. There is no .spamassassin file.
the /var/amavis directory itself has permissions as follows (output from stat)
234881026 86096 drwxr-xr-x 106 _amavisd _amavisd 0 3604 "Dec 30 10:34:20 2007" "Dec 29 20:55:37 2007" "Dec 29 20:55:37 2007" "Mar 21 00:28:17 2005" 4096 0 0 amavis
Well I hope that someone can help me.
Many thanks

Thanks David that is a great help
I have carried out the alterations as suggested in the link, we will see what happens.
Here is the output from ls -al /private/var/amavis:
total 32
drwxr-xr-x 106 _amavisd _amavisd 3604 Dec 29 20:55 .
drwxr-xr-x 43 root wheel 1462 Nov 26 11:14 ..
lrwxr-xr-x 1 _amavisd _amavisd 25 Feb 18 2007 .spamassassin -> /var/clamav/.spamassassin
drwx------ 6 _amavisd _amavisd 204 Feb 18 2007 .spamassassin.old
drwxr-x--- 4 _amavisd _amavisd 136 Nov 9 2005 amavis-20051109T091813-08106
drwxr-x--- 4 _amavisd _amavisd 136 Nov 9 2005 amavis-20051109T092204-08134
drwxr-x--- 4 _amavisd _amavisd 136 Sep 24 10:50 amavis-20070924T105049-17755
drwxr-x--- 4 _amavisd _amavisd 136 Sep 30 04:36 amavis-20070930T043646-14035
-rw-r----- 1 _amavisd _amavisd 0 Dec 30 20:10 amavisd.lock
-rw-r----- 1 _amavisd _amavisd 3 Dec 29 20:55 amavisd.pid
srwxr-x--- 1 _amavisd _amavisd 0 Dec 29 20:55 amavisd.sock
srwxrwxrwx 1 _amavisd _amavisd 0 Dec 29 20:53 clamd
-rw-rw---- 1 _amavisd _amavisd 2 Dec 29 20:53 clamd.pid
drwxr-xr-x 9 _amavisd _amavisd 306 Dec 29 20:55 db
drwxr-xr-x 10 _amavisd _amavisd 340 Dec 30 20:10 tmp
-rw-r--r-- 1 _amavisd _amavisd 3 Sep 27 05:43 whitelist_sender
and sudo ls -al /private/var/amavis/.spamassassin/:
total 33376
drwx------ 6 _clamav _clamav 204 Nov 1 09:26 .
drwxr-xr-x 11 _clamav _clamav 374 Dec 30 14:52 ..
-rw------- 1 _clamav _clamav 5271552 Nov 1 09:26 auto-whitelist
-rw------- 1 _clamav _clamav 1302528 Nov 1 09:26 bayes_seen
-rw------- 1 _clamav _clamav 10510336 Nov 1 09:26 bayes_toks
-rw-r--r-- 1 _clamav _clamav 1175 Feb 18 2007 user_prefs
does this tell us anything? the permissions for .spamassassin are ok I think? So would the changes I made have any effect on the server log message? I just checked the log and got another instance of it. Thinking about it, the learn script runs at 3:00 am or something so this log item is probably not connected to that script. So what else could be causing it?
Many thanks again
James

It would be very nice if Thunderbird would automatically remember e-mail that I mark as junk mail.

I get so many junk e-mails. Often, T-bird sees most of them as junk and puts them in the junk folder. However, there are many that it does not catch, so I have to create message filters.
Also, T-bird doesn't always remember e-mails that it marked as junk at one time, and leaves them in my inbox; or, it marks e-mails that are not junk as junk, and doesn't remember that I mark these as not junk - all of this makes going through my e-mails a very time-consuming part of my day.
It would make my life so much easier if T-bird would remember e-mails that I mark either as junk or not junk, and handle them accordingly, without the need for me to add message filters constantly.
Maybe it would be easier if T-bird provided a "white list" function which the user could include *only* e-mails that are "approved."
Please feel free to contact me about this issue.
Thanks!

i have had this problem for the last few weeks, and the junk is becoming more and more....i like tb and have used it for many years, but i may have to go to my mac mail program.....ughhh
i will try the retraining suggestion and see what happens thanks
k

Leopard Server white list options

Greetings
I have a Leopard server running 10.5.6 that is hosting IMAP mail service. I have one person who reports that he can't send mail from his company account (not hosted on the server) to his contact within the company (hosted on the server). I have NOT seen the header from his rejected mail messages. I have been asking him, but he has not sent it to me yet.
I am using spamhaus.org as a blacklist, but I verified that his company is not blacklisted.
I assume he is blocked by the spam filter for sending one too many junk messages to his friend's account. These guys send lots of junk to each other.
My question is: how can I whitelist this specific email account?
Any method that works will be fine. I have a slightly modified postfix config account to allow comcast users to connect, etc. I am not a linux expert.
Thanks,
-n

Edit the file /etc/mail/spamassassin/local.cf
and add one of two flavors of white list..
The first assumes you know the source mail server the email address originates from and is slightly more secure.
whitelistfromrcvd [email protected] skytel.com
Or just whitelist the email address regardless of where it comes from.
whitelist_from [email protected]

Want to create white list. how to do so?

I want a white list but can't find a place for it. I see <Block Sender>, but I want to create an <Allow Sender> list. Thanks.

You can only white list people from any of your address books. Go to Hamburger button -> Options -> Account Settings -> [account] -> Junk Settings, enable adaptive junk mail controls for that account and check the address books you want addresses from to be whitelisted.

Junk Mail Filtering - is it me or is it just rubbish?

Apologies if this has been posted elsewhere, but didn't have the patience to wade through all the threads. Hopefully someone can help...
Frankly, I think the filtering on Mail (using 3.5 with OSX 10.5.6) is hopeless. Simply put, I've tried configuring it every which way in Preferences but the same issues persist. The main one being that when I configure to "exclude" those in my address book and/or previous recipients list from junk mail filtering ...people in my address book (SPECIFICALLY ME) still end up in the junk mail folder.
I have 2 accounts: Mail.com (POP3) and Gmail (IMAP) and I use an iPhone for mobile access. And I have a work email. All three are in my address card in Address Book.
Yet whenever I send myself (or anyone else) an email -- either from work or from my iPhone or even from within Mail -- it still ends up in the junk mail folder.
I think the problem is that Mail's filtering doesn't look at email addresses. It must look at how the name is set up??? i.e., LAST FIRST or FIRST LAST, etc. and when any of these don't match up it puts it into junk mail folder????
It just seems rubbish to me. Outlook had much more sophisticated filtering options\rule set up.
Anyone got any ideas on how to solve this? Thanks.

Mulder wrote:
If you have multiple email addresses in your card in Address Book, which messages are going to Junk, and what email address was used?
All three emails go to junk. My work to either personal address. Gmail to Mail and Mail to Gmail emails all go to junk
Have you tried setting up the Junk filter so that:
If any of the following conditions are met:
*Sender is not in my Address Book*
*Sender is not in my Previous Recipients*
Message is Junk Mail
Perform the following actions:
*Move message to mailbox: (Junk mailbox On My Mac)*
Yep. Tried that. Still didn't work. Even tried ticking "not junk" on each of the several tests I've sent myself -- and then re-sent more tests, which still ended up in junk????
As I said, I've tried virtually every possible configuration of boxes ticked and unticked and nothing...
My latest setting (using your advanced rules above) were:
Enable Junk Mail - ticked
When Junk Mail arrives - 'perform custom actions'
Msgs Exempt - In address book and previous recipients both ticked. Use my full name unticked
Trust ISP headers - unticked
Filter before applying rules - have tried this both ticked and unticked... same result
Thanks,
The Smoking Man
PS - Should add that when others send me email to the Gmail or Mail accounts they properly go to inbox, not junk. It's just when I send myself something (anything, really)...

I can't see my junk mail to check it before deleting it

i'm using the apple mail program and recently my incoming junk mail has disappeared visually from the junk mail window. i can tell it's still coming in daily, because the sidebar (with in + out mailboxes, drafts, junk etc) shows a constantly changing amount in junk mail. however, when i click on junk mail in the sidebar (which today notes 137 junk mails) the window itself shows none and actually reads "0 messages". does anyone have an idea how to fix this? thanks for any advice in advance!

As I said, if the discussion applies to both Mail 1.x and Mail 2.x, which I believe will be the case here, it doesn’t really matter.
Report the names of the files and folders present at the first level of the ~/Library/Mail/POP-username@mailserver/ account folder in the Finder.
In order to post the exact file names and avoid typing mistakes, proceed as follows. In the Finder, go to ~/Library/Mail/POP-username@mailserver/. With that folder open, if you’re looking at it in View > as List mode, first collapse any expanded folders so that the Finder only shows the files and folders at the first level. Now, do Edit > Select All (⌘A), then Edit > Copy (⌘C), and paste it in your reply to this post.
You’ll probably see a Junk folder without the .mbox suffix there. If that’s the case, quit Mail and rename the folder to Junk.mbox. That should fix the problem.
Note: For those not familiarized with the ~/ notation, it refers to the user’s home folder. That is, ~/Library is the Library folder within the user’s home folder, i.e. /Users/username/Library.

Stopping Junk Mail once and for all.

Hi everyone!
Like most everyone I think that spam is rather annoying. I was thinking about how to get rid of it and came up with a very simple yet powerful idea. I've never heard of this way so at least in my own little world I can say I came up with it.
The idea is this: You define a basic set of mail rules. The rules would be this:
- If ALL of the following conditions are met:
+ Sender is not in my Address Book
+ Sender is not in my Previous Recipients
+ Message is Junk Mail
Now of course using the rules that were set above are not at all a great way of defining spam, because someone trying to get a hold of you (such as a potential employer or long lost friend for example) will likely not make their way through those rules, and their message will be marked as spam. Here's where it gets good though! Instead of simply doing a message bounce, you can also add a custom message that goes along with the bounce, as if you were to reply to the spam yourself. Now of course you can make some dirty comments to the potential spammer, but the point of the auto replying is not to be mean or anything of the like. So before going further, here's what would basically happen:
-=-=-=-
I have automatically returned this message to you because I think it is spam.
Original message:
Is your girlfriend happy?!?! bla bla bla
-=-=-=-
Okay now back to the problem: what if the supposed spam message is actually not spam and is important? Well, not a problem! We now use the power of the custom response. Instead of just saying "I have automatically returned this message to you because I think it is spam," we can also add "If this message is not spam, please resend the message and include in the subject line the phrase "we2y9e5". So if the message was indeed a legitimate email and not spam, the original sender can now put the phrase "we2y9e5" in the subject field. And now that can be a custom mail rule! So in the end you'll have:
- If ALL of the following conditions are met:
+ Sender is not in my Address Book
+ Sender is not in my Previous Recipients
+ Subject does not contain we2y9e5
Perform the following actions:
+ Reply to Message [Reply Message Text...]
+ Delete Message
So now if the Sender sends you an email with the subject "we2y9e5" in it, it will no longer be bounced back to them. From there you can add the Sender to your Address Book and have a new lifelong friend.
Of course, if the message was actual spam, the spammer could just go ahead and put "we2y9e5" in the subject line and get through your new shield. This is in no way a problem though, because if people start using this method there's no way a spammer would bother looking for the phrase in an email. Even if they did, it's just a simple matter of changing your phrase and updating the rule that goes along with that phrase. You can even have a little fun and make it like a little puzzle, like "the phrase is the sound a cat makes" or something like that. Just don't make it too confusing, but you get the idea.
No spam means it's far less likely for users to have their computer taken over by those who are up to no good. You won't have to nervously post your email on forums in some weird "this-is[delete this section]my-email [at] yahoo [d0t] com" format. Best of all you'll never have to go through your mail and delete spam again! Give this method a try and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
I have attached some screenshots of how to set it up for those who are like me and would rather go off a picture.
Happy emailing!
http://www.fullarticulation.net/tutorials/spam/antispam01.jpg
http://www.fullarticulation.net/tutorials/spam/antispam02.jpg
http://www.fullarticulation.net/tutorials/spam/antispam03.jpg
~Reckless Ronin
[email protected]
www.fullarticulation.net

There are a number of problems with this approach.
1. You should not reply to spam, since in the unlikely event that the "reply to" or "return path" email address is actually owned by spammers, it will confirm to them that yours is a real, "live" email address. This will get it on lists sold & traded among spammers, increasing dramatically the number of junk messages sent to you.
Note: bouncing spam will usually have the same effect, since (contrary to what you might think) it is easy to extract the "bouncer's" email address from the message Mail sends. Bouncing is really only effective if a human reads the reply.
2. In the more typical case, the sender's address is forged, often with a real address of some entity, perhaps from one of these "known good" lists. Sometimes a real address is chosen specifically to victimize its owner, for instance to damage a reputation or to flood a mailbox -- sometimes this is the entire purpose of the spam.
3. A lot of legitimate email is generated by automated systems with no human involved. Frequently these are alerts or advisories, telling you that if action is required it must be done by other than email means, such as through a web site or phone call. Some ignore all email replies, or take action only on those with specific subject or body keywords. It is often not possible to know in advance the email address this type of message is sent from; thus, you can not add it to Address Book until you actually receive an example.
4. Even if the sender is a human & the message is legitimate, the "I think this is spam" reply may cause them not to resend a second version containing your special keyword for various reasons. Imagine for instance someone on a slow, dial up connection, or on a usage based fee service, or with any sort of quota limits to worry about. Or think about what would be required if some poor soul sent a first-time message to a large group, say for organizing a high school reunion, & many of them used this approach, each with their own special 'not junk' keyword.
Basically, a good, effective junk filter must not generate a large number of false positives, & it certainly should not make things easier for spammers or harder for other users. I urge you to rethink this approach.

White-list junk mail

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