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  • Hotmail Spam

    From Alan B@21:1/5 to All on Fri Mar 24 06:25:25 2023
    Up until last weekend I was receiving lots of spam emails mostly directed
    at an Hotmail account I use occasionally. OK my filters moved most of it to
    my junk folder but none has appeared there this week. I wonder if MS have recently taken steps to improve blocking of spam on their servers? Has
    anyone else noticed this sudden reduction in spam? No doubt the spammers
    will now be actively finding ways to get around this apparent roadblock :-(

    --
    Cheers, Alan

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Joerg Lorenz@21:1/5 to All on Fri Mar 24 07:51:34 2023
    Am 24.03.23 um 07:25 schrieb Alan B:
    Up until last weekend I was receiving lots of spam emails mostly directed
    at an Hotmail account I use occasionally. OK my filters moved most of it to my junk folder but none has appeared there this week. I wonder if MS have recently taken steps to improve blocking of spam on their servers? Has
    anyone else noticed this sudden reduction in spam? No doubt the spammers
    will now be actively finding ways to get around this apparent roadblock :-(

    Modern spam-filters are dynamic.
    They are able to learn.

    --
    Gutta cavat lapidem (Ovid)

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Alan B@21:1/5 to Joerg Lorenz on Fri Mar 24 09:00:43 2023
    Joerg Lorenz <hugybear@gmx.ch> wrote:
    Am 24.03.23 um 07:25 schrieb Alan B:
    Up until last weekend I was receiving lots of spam emails mostly directed
    at an Hotmail account I use occasionally. OK my filters moved most of it to >> my junk folder but none has appeared there this week. I wonder if MS have
    recently taken steps to improve blocking of spam on their servers? Has
    anyone else noticed this sudden reduction in spam? No doubt the spammers
    will now be actively finding ways to get around this apparent roadblock :-(

    Modern spam-filters are dynamic.
    They are able to learn.

    Yes I know that but surely one would see a gradual reduction in spam rather than the complete stop I’ve witnessed?

    --
    Cheers, Alan

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Mark@21:1/5 to Alan B on Fri Mar 24 10:20:58 2023
    On 2023-03-24 09:00:43 +0000, Alan B said:

    Joerg Lorenz <hugybear@gmx.ch> wrote:
    Am 24.03.23 um 07:25 schrieb Alan B:
    Up until last weekend I was receiving lots of spam emails mostly directed >>> at an Hotmail account I use occasionally. OK my filters moved most of it to >>> my junk folder but none has appeared there this week. I wonder if MS have >>> recently taken steps to improve blocking of spam on their servers? Has
    anyone else noticed this sudden reduction in spam? No doubt the spammers >>> will now be actively finding ways to get around this apparent roadblock :-( >>
    Modern spam-filters are dynamic.
    They are able to learn.

    Yes I know that but surely one would see a gradual reduction in spam rather than the complete stop I’ve witnessed?

    I'd certainly imagine so. Seems pointless doing it any other way.
    --
    Cheers ... Mark

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Alan B@21:1/5 to TimS on Fri Mar 24 11:36:48 2023
    TimS <timstreater@greenbee.net> wrote:
    On 24 Mar 2023 at 10:20:58 GMT, "Mark" <captain.black@gmail.com> wrote:

    On 2023-03-24 09:00:43 +0000, Alan B said:

    Joerg Lorenz <hugybear@gmx.ch> wrote:
    Am 24.03.23 um 07:25 schrieb Alan B:
    Up until last weekend I was receiving lots of spam emails mostly directed >>>>> at an Hotmail account I use occasionally. OK my filters moved most of it to
    my junk folder but none has appeared there this week. I wonder if MS have >>>>> recently taken steps to improve blocking of spam on their servers? Has >>>>> anyone else noticed this sudden reduction in spam? No doubt the spammers >>>>> will now be actively finding ways to get around this apparent roadblock :-(

    Modern spam-filters are dynamic.
    They are able to learn.

    Yes I know that but surely one would see a gradual reduction in spam rather >>> than the complete stop I’ve witnessed?

    I'd certainly imagine so. Seems pointless doing it any other way.

    Seems to me the process should be handled by the end user, who is the only person who know what is spam and what is not.


    Yes I am handling it myself with a set of filters that place crud in my
    junk folder. I check the junk folder every so often to see if my filters
    have been over zealous and put a genuine message there. As I said, no new
    junk has appeared there since last weekend, hence my suggestion that M$ is
    now pre-filtering junk. However I’m not taking this for granted and won’t be deleting my own filters.

    --
    Cheers, Alan

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From TimS@21:1/5 to Mark on Fri Mar 24 11:21:42 2023
    On 24 Mar 2023 at 10:20:58 GMT, "Mark" <captain.black@gmail.com> wrote:

    On 2023-03-24 09:00:43 +0000, Alan B said:

    Joerg Lorenz <hugybear@gmx.ch> wrote:
    Am 24.03.23 um 07:25 schrieb Alan B:
    Up until last weekend I was receiving lots of spam emails mostly directed >>>> at an Hotmail account I use occasionally. OK my filters moved most of it to
    my junk folder but none has appeared there this week. I wonder if MS have >>>> recently taken steps to improve blocking of spam on their servers? Has >>>> anyone else noticed this sudden reduction in spam? No doubt the spammers >>>> will now be actively finding ways to get around this apparent roadblock :-(

    Modern spam-filters are dynamic.
    They are able to learn.

    Yes I know that but surely one would see a gradual reduction in spam rather >> than the complete stop I’ve witnessed?

    I'd certainly imagine so. Seems pointless doing it any other way.

    Seems to me the process should be handled by the end user, who is the only person who know what is spam and what is not.

    --
    Tim

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jaimie Vandenbergh@21:1/5 to TimS on Fri Mar 24 14:14:01 2023
    On 24 Mar 2023 at 11:21:42 GMT, "TimS" <timstreater@greenbee.net> wrote:

    On 24 Mar 2023 at 10:20:58 GMT, "Mark" <captain.black@gmail.com> wrote:

    On 2023-03-24 09:00:43 +0000, Alan B said:

    Joerg Lorenz <hugybear@gmx.ch> wrote:
    Am 24.03.23 um 07:25 schrieb Alan B:
    Up until last weekend I was receiving lots of spam emails mostly directed >>>>> at an Hotmail account I use occasionally. OK my filters moved most of it to
    my junk folder but none has appeared there this week. I wonder if MS have >>>>> recently taken steps to improve blocking of spam on their servers? Has >>>>> anyone else noticed this sudden reduction in spam? No doubt the spammers >>>>> will now be actively finding ways to get around this apparent roadblock :-(

    Modern spam-filters are dynamic.
    They are able to learn.

    Yes I know that but surely one would see a gradual reduction in spam rather >>> than the complete stop I’ve witnessed?

    I'd certainly imagine so. Seems pointless doing it any other way.

    Seems to me the process should be handled by the end user, who is the only person who know what is spam and what is not.

    Depends. At the server side, they can spot millions of identical
    obviously-spam emails being sent to millions of accounts. Last time I
    saw some stats over 90% of emails were from spamfarms, mostly killed serverside.

    It's quite possible that Alan's spam was all from *one source*, now blocked/dead.

    Cheers - Jaimie
    --
    I love children, especially when they cry, for then someone takes them away.
    -- Nancy Mitford

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Joerg Lorenz@21:1/5 to All on Fri Mar 24 15:31:10 2023
    Am 24.03.23 um 10:00 schrieb Alan B:
    Joerg Lorenz <hugybear@gmx.ch> wrote:
    Am 24.03.23 um 07:25 schrieb Alan B:
    Up until last weekend I was receiving lots of spam emails mostly directed >>> at an Hotmail account I use occasionally. OK my filters moved most of it to >>> my junk folder but none has appeared there this week. I wonder if MS have >>> recently taken steps to improve blocking of spam on their servers? Has
    anyone else noticed this sudden reduction in spam? No doubt the spammers >>> will now be actively finding ways to get around this apparent roadblock :-( >>
    Modern spam-filters are dynamic.
    They are able to learn.

    Yes I know that but surely one would see a gradual reduction in spam rather than the complete stop I’ve witnessed?

    No. If a certain threshold is reached it goes fromm 100 to 0.

    --
    Gutta cavat lapidem (Ovid)

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Joerg Lorenz@21:1/5 to All on Fri Mar 24 15:32:31 2023
    Am 24.03.23 um 12:21 schrieb TimS:
    On 24 Mar 2023 at 10:20:58 GMT, "Mark" <captain.black@gmail.com> wrote:

    On 2023-03-24 09:00:43 +0000, Alan B said:

    Joerg Lorenz <hugybear@gmx.ch> wrote:
    Am 24.03.23 um 07:25 schrieb Alan B:
    Up until last weekend I was receiving lots of spam emails mostly directed >>>>> at an Hotmail account I use occasionally. OK my filters moved most of it to
    my junk folder but none has appeared there this week. I wonder if MS have >>>>> recently taken steps to improve blocking of spam on their servers? Has >>>>> anyone else noticed this sudden reduction in spam? No doubt the spammers >>>>> will now be actively finding ways to get around this apparent roadblock :-(

    Modern spam-filters are dynamic.
    They are able to learn.

    Yes I know that but surely one would see a gradual reduction in spam rather >>> than the complete stop I’ve witnessed?

    I'd certainly imagine so. Seems pointless doing it any other way.

    Seems to me the process should be handled by the end user, who is the only person who know what is spam and what is not.

    Experience shows that this does not work without a huge effort. A really
    huge effort.

    --
    Gutta cavat lapidem (Ovid)

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Alan B@21:1/5 to jaimie@usually.sessile.org on Fri Mar 24 15:01:52 2023
    On 24 Mar 2023 at 14:14:01 GMT, "Jaimie Vandenbergh" <jaimie@usually.sessile.org> wrote:

    On 24 Mar 2023 at 11:21:42 GMT, "TimS" <timstreater@greenbee.net> wrote:

    On 24 Mar 2023 at 10:20:58 GMT, "Mark" <captain.black@gmail.com> wrote:

    On 2023-03-24 09:00:43 +0000, Alan B said:

    Joerg Lorenz <hugybear@gmx.ch> wrote:
    Am 24.03.23 um 07:25 schrieb Alan B:
    Up until last weekend I was receiving lots of spam emails mostly directed
    at an Hotmail account I use occasionally. OK my filters moved most of it to
    my junk folder but none has appeared there this week. I wonder if MS have
    recently taken steps to improve blocking of spam on their servers? Has >>>>>> anyone else noticed this sudden reduction in spam? No doubt the spammers >>>>>> will now be actively finding ways to get around this apparent roadblock :-(

    Modern spam-filters are dynamic.
    They are able to learn.

    Yes I know that but surely one would see a gradual reduction in spam rather
    than the complete stop I’ve witnessed?

    I'd certainly imagine so. Seems pointless doing it any other way.

    Seems to me the process should be handled by the end user, who is the only >> person who know what is spam and what is not.

    Depends. At the server side, they can spot millions of identical obviously-spam emails being sent to millions of accounts. Last time I
    saw some stats over 90% of emails were from spamfarms, mostly killed serverside.

    It's quite possible that Alan's spam was all from *one source*, now blocked/dead.

    It all started quite suddenly a few weeks ago which could suggest a single source got hold of my email address. I never bothered to study the headers in detail but I guess those could be faked anyway.

    --
    Cheers, Alan

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jason H@21:1/5 to Alan B on Sat Apr 15 15:34:38 2023
    On 3/24/23 06:25, Alan B wrote:
    Up until last weekend I was receiving lots of spam emails mostly directed
    at an Hotmail account I use occasionally. OK my filters moved most of it to my junk folder but none has appeared there this week. I wonder if MS have recently taken steps to improve blocking of spam on their servers? Has
    anyone else noticed this sudden reduction in spam? No doubt the spammers
    will now be actively finding ways to get around this apparent roadblock :-(


    Thanks to the healthy goodness of Bayesian statistics, every time you
    actively mark a an email as junk, or not junk, you help make the spam
    filter better. Emails of the very highest probability of being junk
    will simply be discarded. The upside of this approach is that
    Microsoft's own ads occasionally go into the Hotmail junk folder :-/.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Alan B@21:1/5 to Jason H on Sat Apr 15 14:58:46 2023
    Jason H <DarthPiriteze@deathstar.gal> wrote:
    On 3/24/23 06:25, Alan B wrote:
    Up until last weekend I was receiving lots of spam emails mostly directed
    at an Hotmail account I use occasionally. OK my filters moved most of it to >> my junk folder but none has appeared there this week. I wonder if MS have
    recently taken steps to improve blocking of spam on their servers? Has
    anyone else noticed this sudden reduction in spam? No doubt the spammers
    will now be actively finding ways to get around this apparent roadblock :-( >>

    Thanks to the healthy goodness of Bayesian statistics, every time you actively mark a an email as junk, or not junk, you help make the spam
    filter better. Emails of the very highest probability of being junk
    will simply be discarded.

    Still not much getting through now. Those that do mostly phishing attempts concerning expired subs to a certain AV app which I’ve never used.

    The upside of this approach is that
    Microsoft's own ads occasionally go into the Hotmail junk folder :-/.

    That’s a definite advantage then :)

    --
    Cheers, Alan

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Ant@21:1/5 to Alan B on Sun Apr 16 00:59:59 2023
    Alan B <alanrichardbarker@gmail.com.invalid> wrote:
    Up until last weekend I was receiving lots of spam emails mostly directed
    at an Hotmail account I use occasionally. OK my filters moved most of it to my junk folder but none has appeared there this week. I wonder if MS have recently taken steps to improve blocking of spam on their servers? Has
    anyone else noticed this sudden reduction in spam? No doubt the spammers
    will now be actively finding ways to get around this apparent roadblock :-(

    This started last year for others and me. :(
    --
    "Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor." --Romans 13:7. Finally warm sun, hibernated <8 hrs. overnite + 1 hr. nap & still tired, lite bulbs, etc. Is spring
    break over yet? :) (Orthodox) Easter eve again!
    Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
    /\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://aqfl.net & http://antfarm.home.dhs.org.
    / /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
    | |o o| |
    \ _ /
    ( )

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Ant@21:1/5 to Alan B on Sun Apr 16 01:01:37 2023
    Alan B <alanrichardbarker@gmail.com.invalid> wrote:
    Up until last weekend I was receiving lots of spam emails mostly directed
    at an Hotmail account I use occasionally. OK my filters moved most of it to my junk folder but none has appeared there this week. I wonder if MS have recently taken steps to improve blocking of spam on their servers? Has
    anyone else noticed this sudden reduction in spam? No doubt the spammers
    will now be actively finding ways to get around this apparent roadblock :-(

    FYI: https://www.reddit.com/r/hotmail/comments/xbnje1/is_anyone_else_getting_lots_of_spam_emails_these/
    --
    "Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor." --Romans 13:7. Finally warm sun, hibernated <8 hrs. overnite + 1 hr. nap & still tired, lite bulbs, etc. Is spring
    break over yet? :) (Orthodox) Easter eve again!
    Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
    /\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://aqfl.net & http://antfarm.home.dhs.org.
    / /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
    | |o o| |
    \ _ /
    ( )

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Alan B@21:1/5 to Ant on Sun Apr 16 12:33:12 2023
    Ant <ant@zimage.comANT> wrote:
    Alan B <alanrichardbarker@gmail.com.invalid> wrote:
    Up until last weekend I was receiving lots of spam emails mostly directed
    at an Hotmail account I use occasionally. OK my filters moved most of it to >> my junk folder but none has appeared there this week. I wonder if MS have
    recently taken steps to improve blocking of spam on their servers? Has
    anyone else noticed this sudden reduction in spam? No doubt the spammers
    will now be actively finding ways to get around this apparent roadblock :-(

    FYI: https://www.reddit.com/r/hotmail/comments/xbnje1/is_anyone_else_getting_lots_of_spam_emails_these/

    I always assumed I was not alone! It’s very easy to think you are being specifically targeted though. I don’t do Reddit anymore so won’t respond to your post there.

    --
    Cheers, Alan

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)