What Can I Do About Spam

Wrongly Identified Spam

Code Of Conduct and you as a 'sender'

Spam

Spam is unsolicited email (much of it is offensive) and typically consists of:

• adverts for pornographic and drugs.
• adverts for cheap mortgages and 'desirable' consumer items.
• too good to be true get rich quick schemes.
• Scams/Phishing - some 'Spam' messages are fraud.
• Virus/Trojan - some Spam carries viruses & dangerous Trojans.

Dealing With Incoming Spam 

You can move *ISS Detected SPAM to the 'Junk E-mail' folder or the 'Deleted Items' folder:

• Filter Marked SPAM Using Rules

Outlook 200x users can filter marked and unmarked Spam using Microsoft Junk-Email feature. However the University has no control on how much mail the Microsoft feature filters.

• Filter Spam Using Microsoft Junkmail Feature

Spam Prevention Measures - Reduce Your Visibility

It is never too late to prevent Spam or at least reduce the amount of Spam you are getting. The key is to reduce Your Visibility to Spammers.

• Reduce Your Visibility

Reporting False Spam

Very occasionally, 'Spam Assassin' may mark an incoming mail as Spam when it is not actually Spam. This is a regrettable but unavoidable consequence of the current Spam situation. These false positives are known as 'False Spam'.

• Report False Spam

Central Anti-Spam Measures

Central Anti-Spam Measures - ISS checks all incoming mail with an anti-Spam program called SpamAssassin.

Code of Conduct - Spam & You As An Email Sender 

Email is a useful tool, but it does have limitations:

• Do not send unsolicited email - see the Lancaster University Computer User Agreement.

How To Stop Your Outgoing Email Being Marked As Spam

To avoid making your 'legitimate' email being identified as Spam, you should pay heed to the following:

Spam is a mass-mailed advert. Adverts are generally made enticing in some way, often with large coloured text, background graphics and ALL CAPITAL TEXT.

The basic message is - keep it simple:

• avoid using highly formatted text especially with coloured headings.
• do not USE 'ALL CAPS' FOR MORE THAN THE OCCASIONAL WORD.
• do not use background graphics or logos.
• do not include URL links to external graphics.
• avoid attachments except where necessary.
• avoid using 'sales patter' e.g. Hot Deal, Special Offer.
• avoid using (and this should be easy) err 'rude language' (sorry no examples).

Each of the above will earn your email a 'point'. If your email earns over a certain number of points it may be marked as Spam by an anti-Spam system.

Email sent to internal recipients on the Microsoft Exchange system are not checked for the signs of Spam, all other email is likely to be checked.

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