As we are continually beset by spam, people ask about the proper use of blacklisting spammers through Webmail. Learn when and how to use this feature, and other spam reduction strategies in this tip.

A recent article in the New York Times noted:
    “In the last six months, the problem has gotten measurably worse. Worldwide spam volumes have doubled from last year, according to Ironport, a spam filtering firm, and unsolicited junk mail now accounts for more than 9 of every 10 e-mail messages sent over the Internet.”

Blacklisting
There are two points you need to understand to improve the effectiveness of using Webmail's blacklisting capabilities:

1. Spammers usually use an address only once. So, blacklisting a specific address is probably not helpful. If you do get commercial e-mail from regular businesses that you do not want to receive, and there is not obvious way to “opt-out” of, or unsubscribe from the mailings, then you can use the blacklist feature to prevent further delivery of these mails to your inbox.
2. Blacklisting an address simply creates a Webmail filter, which only works if you use Webmail. In order to fully activate a blacklist entry, you must click on the “Options” link, and then on the “Filters” link. Check the boxes beside: “Apply filter rules upon logging on?” and “Apply filter rules when mailbox is refreshed?”

Spam Assassin
Because of point #1 above, it is better to enable Spam Assassin as a first line filter against spammers. To do this, go to: http://intranet.hampshire.edu/mail and login. Make sure your filter is checked as “On”. Then review and set the other options. These should be self-explanatory, but if you need assistance, please call the Help Desk at x5418.

Junk Mail Controls
Thunderbird and Entourage contain very effective Junk Mail Controls. To learn more about how to train Thunderbird to recognize mail that you consider to be junk, see page 3 of the Mail and Address Book List Management handout.