[SpamCop-List] Re: ISP Failure to Block Spam

[Geoffrey Hyde]

A couple of things you can do.  The first you already suggested.

The second is to get a spamblocking program like SpamAssassin or whatever is 
out there currently, and let it feed on these nasty spam emails that make it 
through the Earthlink filter.

Thirdly, I wouldn't recommend trying to get someone intelligent at Earthlink 
to talk to - they probably think their spam filter blocks it all or don't 
have the time to care about one or two customers who do have problems with 
it.  So it's really up to you to go out and find a solution that will block 
the unwanted emails.

Lastly, but not least, report all of the spams that you get to SpamCop - if 
you report them you will at least be providing data for blocking or 
blacklisting servers and spammers, and getting their connections shut down.

If it is a suspect spam and you're not sure if you should report it, post it 
in spamcop.spam and point it out here.  Someone will tell you if it's a real 
spam email or not.

As for the issue with long lines, I would recommend pasting the full source 
of the message from your mail reader, I use Outlook Express so it's just a 
matter of right-clicking the offending spam email, choosing Properties, 
Details, Message Source, and then right-clicking in the resulting window you 
get, choosing "select all" with the menu that pops up on the RMB, hiting 
Ctrl-c, and pasting that into the SpamCop "report spam" input window with 
ctrl-v or paste function.

Outlook may have undesirable side-effects, such as tracking images in spam 
used to confirm your address is valid, so if you don't mind missing all the 
lovely pictures, you can view it in plain text or use a different mail 
client you're more familiar with, that doesn't run HTML code or let images 
load - as long as you can cut and paste the message source unaltered, 
SpamCop should be able to parse it.

I hope these suggestions help with your problem.

Cheers ...

Geoffrey Hyde



"Tuatara" <nobody at spamcop.net> wrote in message 
news:439fd1b2.110153203 at news.spamcop.net...
> First off, I know what the logical solution to my problem is: Find
> another ISP, but...
>
> My ISP, Earthlink, touts their SpamBlocker as being able to block
> nearly all spam. What SpamBlocker doesn't catch, ends up in a Suspect
> Email folder.
>
> There's the one spammer whose spam SpamBlocker never catches. I have
> asked Earthlink's technical support about resolving this, and all I
> have gotten is the literal run-around. I don't think that their tech
> support staff even READS my e-mail. They seem to dole out canned
> responses. OK, they have incompetent technical support.
>
> As a matter of principle, if any spam makes it though the ISP's spam
> blocking, it's a  victory for the spammer. I duly report the spam via
> SpamCop as well as Earthlink's manual spam reporting facility.
>
> Beyond their technical support, I cannot get through to anyone at
> Earthlink or their vaunted SpamBlocker facility to resolve this
> problem. Even though I have set the SpamBlocker to its highest
> setting, I'll get about 15 spam per day for every 2-3 it catches.
> That's a poor track record for blocking spam.
>
> How do I get through to anyone competent at Earthlink to resolve this?
> Their bumbling and worthless tech support staff are effective at
> deflecting the issue by feeding me a load of tripe. Does anyone know
> of any Earthlink contacts to escalate the issue beyond tech support?
>
>