[ale] Spam filtering based on timestamp?

Christopher Bergeron christopher at bergeron.com
Wed Mar 5 22:15:43 EST 2003


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Ok, so tonight I was thinking about blocking spam.  I'm using Mozilla 
1.3b and I'm still training the Bayesian spam filter (which is really 
cool).  While thinking about my fellow pathetic Outlook officemates, it 
occured to me that I can probably block a significant amount of thier 
SPAM (I'm kindhearted to even the un-enlightened) at the server by 
flagging ALL messages that are received AFTERhours.  AFTERhours for my 
company is around 5-6 PM on the West Coast.

It occurred to me that most of the SPAM that I get comes through when 
I'm _not_ at work.  I tend to think that it's because most of the 
spam-servers are offshore and thus, outside of our timezones.  Anyone 
legitimate would most likely send email within a reasonable 10-hour 
window (in my opinion).

Could filtering spam based on the timestamp _AND_ Bayesian statistics 
improve the accuracy of the filter?

Am I missing anything or could this be a reasonable approach?  Could 
this lead to increased spam during the "important" business hours and 
should therefore be avoided?

Any insights?  Should I post this to slashdot to get more discussion?

Regards,
CB






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