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List: spamassassin-users
Subject: RE: SPAM and HAM
From: "Rob McEwen" <rob () powerviewsystems ! com>
Date: 2006-08-01 15:35:15
Message-ID: 00ac01c6b580$16f69d20$0100a80a () pvsys
[Download RAW message or body]
> Dear Group Member,
> Can anyone explain me the clear definition of SPAM and HAM
Most everyone agrees that spam is unsolicited e-mail sent from entities with
whom you do not have a previously established business or personal
relationship ...OR... where you've opted to not receive such mail and they
still keep sending it.
For example, if you are member of an organization, it is NOT spam if THAT
organization sends you something that "seems" unsolicited (assuming that you
haven't already explicitly opted out.) Why? Because you have a previously
established business or personal relationship with them.
Now... here is where it gets tricky... some factor into the equation whether
or not the e-mail is commercial in nature. For example, they might consider
that an unsolicited e-mail from the Red Cross is not spam because the Red
Cross is a not-for-profit business. I think some go too far with this.
But SpamHaus does factor into the equation whether the e-mail is most geared
towards benefiting the sender or the recipient. This is somewhat similar to
"commercial" vs. "non-commercial" ...but not quite the same thing. For
example, many "non profits" pay their board members and executives
exorbitant salaries for little work and this can be a con job... (they are
really for profit for all practical purposes). (If I named names of
non-profits who operated this way, you'd recognize them! BTW - I mentioned
Red Cross earlier, but I think that they are one of the "good"
non-profits... so don't apply this statement to them!)
At the same time, sometimes commercial businesses actually do "altruistic"
things which are not profit-oriented. Of course, I know that most Leftists
think that this isn't possible! ;)
Overall, I do think that in "close calls", whether a message is from a
non-profit, or seems to benefit the recipient more than the sender should be
factored into the equation... but should not be an overreaching factor.
One other area where it gets tricky is whether the message is bulk or not.
SpamHaus says that to be spam, a message must be both unsolicited AND bulk.
The idea here is that a salesperson ought to be able to "cold call"
hand-type a thoughtful and personalized e-mail to a potential customer
without fearing that his entire company would get blacklisted. I agree with
SpamHaus... but we have MANY "SpamNazis" on this list who think that that
guy's entire company should be blacklisted just for a single such message
sent! (But I do see how some try to "game" this standard by getting creative
with sending out thousands of messages which attempt to "look" hand-typed
and personalized. But... come on... these are easily spotted and form a
pattern that distinguishes itself from a real hand typed personalized
message.)
Rob McEwen
PowerView Systems
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<div class=Section1>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt'>> Dear Group Member,</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt'>> Can anyone explain me the clear definition of SPAM and HAM</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt'>Most everyone agrees that spam is unsolicited e-mail sent from entities
with whom you do not have a previously established business or personal
relationship ...OR... where you've opted to not receive such mail and they
still keep sending it.</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt'>For example, if you are member of an organization, it is NOT spam if
THAT organization sends you something that "seems" unsolicited
(assuming that you haven't already explicitly opted out.) Why? Because you have
a previously established business or personal relationship with them.</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt'>Now... here is where it gets tricky... some factor into the equation
whether or not the e-mail is commercial in nature. For example, they might
consider that an unsolicited e-mail from the Red Cross is not spam because the
Red Cross is a not-for-profit business. I think some go too far with this.</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt'>But SpamHaus does factor into the equation whether the e-mail is most
geared towards benefiting the sender or the recipient. This is somewhat similar
to "commercial" vs. "non-commercial" ...but not quite the
same thing. For example, many "non profits" pay their board members
and executives exorbitant salaries for little work and this can be a con job...
(they are really for profit for all practical purposes). (If I named names of
non-profits who operated this way, you'd recognize them! BTW - I mentioned Red
Cross earlier, but I think that they are one of the "good" non-profits...
so don’t apply this statement to them!)</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt'>At the same time, sometimes commercial businesses actually do
"altruistic" things which are not profit-oriented. Of course, I know
that most Leftists think that this isn’t possible! ;)</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt'>Overall, I do think that in "close calls", whether a message
is from a non-profit, or seems to benefit the recipient more than the sender
should be factored into the equation... but should not be an overreaching
factor.</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt'>One other area where it gets tricky is whether the message is bulk or
not. SpamHaus says that to be spam, a message must be both unsolicited AND
bulk. The idea here is that a salesperson ought to be able to "cold
call" hand-type a thoughtful and personalized e-mail to a potential
customer without fearing that his entire company would get blacklisted. I agree
with SpamHaus... but we have MANY "SpamNazis" on this list who think
that that guy's entire company should be blacklisted just for a single such
message sent! (But I do see how some try to "game" this standard by
getting creative with sending out thousands of messages which attempt to
"look" hand-typed and personalized. But... come on... these are
easily spotted and form a pattern that distinguishes itself from a real hand
typed personalized message.)</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt'>Rob McEwen</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt'>PowerView Systems</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
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