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Since we didn't receive this e-mail, whose attempted delivery to us is shown in
the log, we know our mail file rule worked and deleted the e-mail.
If you are using mail file rules that file e-mails into folders, such as
Incoming\Suspicious, you can examine what is in the folders to see if the rules
are working the way you want them to. You can also see if there are any false
positives where you have rules that are scanning the subject or body of e-mails.
Build your rules carefully
When developing mail file rules, it is imperative that you take into account all mail
that you receive. Classifying messages as spam when they are not will, at best,
cause a nuisance, and at worst will cause missed or lost business.
Select your text phrases carefully. Scanning for text that is too broad in scope can
cause false positives. For example, at first glance it may seem appropriate to
scan for the text
sex
. However, there are words—like
sextuplets
and
Essex
—that
contain that same text, but that may not be indicative of spam messages. It is
also important to understand the nature of your organization when building rules.
For example, in a hospital, anatomical terms for body parts may be completely
acceptable within medical or research departments, but could be used to screen
out spam in the accounting department.
As you gain more experience in setting up your mail file rules, and further
analyze the nature of the spam mail that you receive, you can refine your rules to
more effectively eliminate spam.
79
Chapter 5. Using mail file rules to prevent spam
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