[...]
If the answer is 'a WinXP user who retrieves mail via POP3 with Outlook and who does not use the command line and does not program, not even a little bit, and who wants a button to press to make spam go away' then the answer is probably not to use SpamAssassin directly but to use some commercial product instead.
Excellent post Bob. I think that there needs to be a big note on the SpamAssassin web site that says something like this:
* * * SpamAssassin is for system administrators * * * Before you even think about installing it, take this quiz
And then have a link to a quiz that includes things like:
* What is an MTA?
* What is an MDA?
* What is an MSA?
* What is an MUA?
* What is SMTP?
* What is IMAP?
* What is POP3?
* What is the structure of an email message?
* What is the structure of a mailbox?
* What is "the envelope"
* How can you determine the original envelope recipient address?
* How can you determine the original envelope sender address?
* Draw a diagram that illustrates how mail flows to your MUA from the Internet.
* Draw a diagram that illustrates how mail flows out of your MUA to the Internet.
* Write a regular expression that will match a line that begins with the string 'From:' and contains the email address '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' (make sure that your regexp will not match on any other email address)
* If an email message includes this header
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
What does that tell you about the message?
And then say something like: If you do not immediately know the answer to all these questions, you should not be installing or administering SpamAssassin (unless it is for educational purposes and for processing only *your* email).
The Procmail web site needs this too! NM
-- Infinite Ink: <http://www.ii.com/> Reverse Spam Filtering: <http://www.ii.com/internet/messaging/spam/> Procmail Quick Start: <http://www.ii.com/internet/robots/procmail/qs/> IMAP Service Providers: <http://www.ii.com/internet/messaging/imap/isps/>
