ct: a shooting star (Default)
Caitrin ([personal profile] ct) wrote in [site community profile] dw_suggestions2010-06-20 09:25 pm

Improve/customize the messages added to emails by the spam filter

Title:
Improve/customize the messages added to emails by the spam filter

Area:
email, spam

Summary:
Currently, when Dreamwidth's spam filter flags a message that may or may not be spam, it forwards the message to the intended recipient and adds a paragraph to the beginning of the message explaining what happened. This message doesn't have the same feel as most other official/official-ish communication from Dreamwidth, so I'm suggesting it should be updated.

Description:
When email gets sent to a paid/seed user's @dreamwidth.org email address, it gets run through a program to weed out spam. Messages that are borderline - maybe spam, maybe not - are sent on to the user with some extra text prepended to the email explaining what happened. Right now, it looks like this:

<i>Spam detection software, running on the system "sb-lb02.dreamwidth.org", has identified this incoming email as possible spam. The original message has been attached to this so you can view it (if it isn't spam) or label similar future email. If you have any questions, see the administrator of that system for details.</i>

...which I'm pretty sure is the standard boilerplate that comes with the program. I'd like to see the message customized to be less impersonal/more user-friendly and to make it more obvious that even if the original email is spam, this message is legitimately from Dreamwidth.

Something else that may make it more obvious what these emails actually are would be to change the from and/or the subject of the email to reflect that it's a message from DW's spam filter rather than a message directly from the original sender, but I'm less sure of the etiquette involved there and of whether it would be feasible.

Poll #3538 Improve/customize the messages added to emails by the spam filter
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 28


This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
13 (46.4%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
3 (10.7%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
2 (7.1%)

(I have no opinion)
10 (35.7%)

(Other: please comment)
0 (0.0%)

cheyinka: A glowing blue sheep with green eyes (electric sheep)

[personal profile] cheyinka 2010-06-21 02:59 am (UTC)(link)
I wouldn't want to see the from or the subject changed, I don't think, but changing the spam detection message would be fine with me :)
thorfinn: <user name="seedy_girl"> and <user name="thorfinn"> (Default)

[personal profile] thorfinn 2010-06-21 03:32 am (UTC)(link)
+1

I hate modified subject lines.
kyrielle: painterly drawing of a white woman with large dark-blue-framed glasses, hazel eyes, brown hair, and a suspicious lack of blemishes (Default)

[personal profile] kyrielle 2010-06-21 04:20 am (UTC)(link)
+1. This would make it harder for me to spot legitimate things I wanted to reply to, and also harder to adjust the reply back to go to the original sender (and look right).

But modifying the spam detection message would be fine. :)
turlough: purple crocuses (Default)

[personal profile] turlough 2010-06-21 01:28 pm (UTC)(link)
+1
susanreads: my avatar, a white woman with brown hair and glasses (Default)

[personal profile] susanreads 2010-06-22 02:29 pm (UTC)(link)
+1