Above is a for-real screen shot of my Google Apps based e-mail (i.e. Gmail) “Spam” folder.
Anyone who is a domain owner knows that spammers will send e-mail to any common address at your domain, such as webmaster@example.com, contact@example.com, sales@example.com and so on.
I’ve had my primary domain registered since 1999 but spam wasn’t really a problem until the early 2000’s. After that point the spam started flooding in like a tidal wave.
I tried everything to stop it, but as you know once your e-mail address is known to exist, spam happens. It’s unavoidable. It got so bad I had to switch e-mail addresses at one point.
When I made the switch to having all my domain mail be Google Apps based I noticed the spam filters were, in a word, awesome. At first I was dismayed at the fact there are hardly any spam filter options (either it’s “on” or “off,”) but as it turns out I don’t need to adjust any settings because Gmail’s filters are that good.
Then I decided to put Gmail to a real test. I set up my primary e-mail address as a “catch-all” for any e-mail received to my domain, essentially telling spammers “Bring it on!”
The result is what you see above. That screen shot is about one month’s worth of spam. I know there are those who receive literally tens of thousands of spams a month, but my spam count is nothing to discount.
Periodically I check the Spam folder to see if there are any false positives. When I first started using Gmail there were only two marked as such, but none since.
At this point I am finally able to list my e-mail address on my web site in full public view without worrying about it anymore. I simply don’t worry about it.
Gmail’s spam filters don’t fall under the “too weak” or “too good” category; they’re actually “just right.”
Concerning proper spam filtering, Gmail is the best that exists. I don’t know what Google uses to accomplish this and I honestly don’t care. It just works.
I thought the question in the title was cynical. And I was - and am - convinced Gmail’s spam-filter really works.
It is now said: it works indeed. I combine Gmail via POP3 with Thunderbird, which has its own magnificent filter. The latter never gets to work, because Gmail filters it all. Until now, with 7 accounts, not 1 email was wrongly put away nor let through! That also means I don know anything about emerging marvelous stock opportunities, nor about lengthening my penis or erection-duration-whatever. But I don’t mind at all. My pc keeps clear, thanks to Linux/Firefox/NoScript/Gmail/Thunderbird.
Enlarge your weight loss morgage! Today at ebayhottiecams.spam!
Seriously, GMail is amazing, I haven’t had much spam coming in from my hotmail account but then again I don’t give out my email address. I have a GMail account but it’s filtered every spam message to show up.
does gmail ever get it wrong + put ‘good’ emails into its spam folder?
i often check to see what scams are doing the rounds at http://www.scamemail.co.uk - its surprising how ‘real’ some of them look, plus its no surprise how crap some of them look too!
brian
GMail is actually too efficient at catching spam. I just missed the display of an apartment because the rescheduling of the display was sent by email and ended up in spam, which I don’t check because I trust the spam filter of GMail so much. Now I don’t know how many other important mails I have missed just because I trusted that filter. The bad thing is, I get so much spam in the spam folder, that I can’t really keep checking it. If you forget to check it one day, it’s filled up by so much you lose overview, and also it takes up a lot of time to check everything. Kind of kills the real purpose of a spam filter.
@brian:
Yes, GMail does false positives. I just sent out email to members of an organization, and it has reportedly been classified as spam.
I’m glad it works out for most people, and losing a few emails are perhaps a price you are willing to pay.
-k