I think, by now, you are all familiar with Mark, our resident anti-spam czar. If not, Mark has graced this blog a number of times before. Most recently he conducted an anti-spam workshop in addition to letting us know how we’re cracking down Lottery scams on our corporate Yodel blog. Today, he’s back with more great news on how he and his team are working to keep you safer for 2009. So without further ado, here’s Mark….
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At Yahoo!, we take spam seriously. And as I’ve told you before, we’ve got some of the smartest computer scientists in the world working to ensure Yahoo! Mail users receive all the mail they want…and none that they don’t. It’s a huge challenge and the bad guys are always out there trying to make a buck with their scams, but we’re committed to helping keep you safer online.
One way we’re turning up the heat on the spammers is by utilizing even more state-of-the-art technology. Recently, Yahoo!’s anti-spam team has been using a “supercomputer” consisting of thousands of individual PCs — part of our open source Hadoop project — to help detect spammers. We’re teamed up with several top universities on this research, looking for more ways to find and block the bad guys even faster, before they can do their damage.
We’re also out there working with partners big and small to help reduce spam across the Internet. We’ve seen some promising early results from one such company, a startup named Abaca, and our hopes are high that together we can block even more of these messages by looking at spammers’ behavior in addition to the contents of their spammy messages.
Closely related to all of this is that we need to ensure the right messages still get through, that we don’t throw out the proverbial baby with the bathwater. With the help of our friends at Return Path, we’re relaunching our Complaint Feedback Loop for commercial e-mail companies. With the CFL, legitimate companies receive notification when users mark a message as “spam,” and those companies can then use that feedback to help them fix the problems on their end. For example, a company may have used a confusing subject line, or accidentally sent to the wrong mailing list; with the CFL, we can get that information to them so they can quickly correct the problem.
As always, I’ll close with a reminder that, if Yahoo! Mail does let something slip through into the wrong folder — either allowing spam into your inbox or mistakenly putting a good message in your Spam folder — please use the “Spam” and “Not Spam” buttons to let us know. Clicking those buttons sends an immediate and powerful signal to our systems (and to me :) so that we can quickly try to correct the problem. It’s the best way for us to get better, and to continue keeping your e-mail experience great!
Mark Risher,
Anti-Spam Czar
You know, Yahoo is pushing all these new services and features, but the basic rudimentary service are going to pot. I can no longer permanebtly save a draft – once I pull it up and send it, it is no longer in drafts. That is different from before. And even worse, I’m finding that some saved drafts just vanish from the saved drafts box. I just typed a letter fiftteen minutes ago, saved it, went back two minutes later and it was no longer there. Miserable service. I tried the paid level of membership several months ago and dropped it after two months or so. If Yahoo wants new paid members start also doing the basics well again – it wasn’t like that in the past.
I agree with you
@bollettino gennaio 2009…
Primo articolo della serie @bollettino, con la quale vi terremo aggiornati sui principali eventi riguardanti il mondo della posta elettronica avvenuti nelle ultime settimane.
Gennaio 2009 è stato ricco di novità importanti:
Lycos Europa interromper…
Yahoo riAbilita il Feedback loop!…
Yahoo riattiva il feedback loop in collaborazione con ReturnPath. Chiunque invii utilizzando la tecnologia DomainKey può far uso del feedback loop per mantenere una migliore reputazione ed un miglior controllo sulla segnalazione abusi.
Per il mercato…
thats very nice.
I am trying to get clarification on whether or not I can use a wildcard (I have Yahoo Premium mail) in domain name blocking. I’ve seen both Yes and No responses online. The screen WILL allow me to enter a block for:
*.ar
*.com.ar
*.*.ar
But, do these blocks actually work? If so, I’m probably being redundant with my blocks, but after receiving 30 or more spam emails in my Inbox per day for the past 6 months, I’ve had it.
Thanks,
Sue
While I’m very happy Yahoo! is working on the spam problem, I am encountering a different issue with your efforts. I am legally blind. I moderate multiple Yahoo! groups – all with members who are legally blind. When we encounter the little box with the numbers and letters, there doesn’t appear to be a way for a blind/visually impaired person to read it. We encounter these all over on the internet, and there are ways to make them accessable. I’ve contacted customer care three times now on this issue and essentialy recieved very polite non-answers. One told me that I was getting this box often because of the volume of e-mail in my account. Imagine that – I’ve always liked and used Yahoo! Shame on me. Of course I have a lot of mail – all of my groups are carefully moderated because they are medical in nature and I wanted to prevent misinformation etc. It goes through my e-mail.
It seems to me that this is not only annoying for me, but it’s an accessability issue, possibly under the Americans with Disabilities Act. (Ask Target about the lawsuit they just settled regarding accessability on their Web site.) I’m not into making waves if I don’t have to – I just want to solve this problem because it’s now eating up a lot of my time redoing e-mails as I try to get around this box thing.
I’m trying to figure out how to get past all the gatekeepers to make someone at Yahoo! aware of this problem who can actually help. Mark, would that be you???? HELP!
Last nite received 4294901760 unread messages in my Inbox. Something is definitely wrong & yahoo is going to shutdown my account for 2 days.
im very new to all of this,the jargon all the “phrases” you use idont know if i have this or that ,SURE COULD USE SOME HELP THANX
Q: Why can’t Yahoo! prevent messages such as:
“MS Security Support – Newest Internet Security Pack” (with attachment) and “MS Corporation Internet Security Center – Newest Internet Upgrade” (also with attachment) from showing up in my mailbox?
Yes, “SpamGuard” is on. No, Microsoft has NEVER sent out security updates this way. And Yes, I’ve clicked on the SPAM button probably about a few dozen times on these SAME email messages over the past decade.
The filters I created in Yahoo! Mail catch more spam than SpamGuard does…
I’ve had yahoo mail since 1995 with No problems. For the last month or so I can’t seem to stop the 10-20 porno spams I get every day. I’m ready to give up my 5 letter address for a better mail provider (Yes my virus protection is up to date).
I get about 15-20 spam mails everyday. Even though I spam these e-mails, I continue to get the same e-mails everyday. Makes me wonder, is Yahoo spam working properly?
From my first use of Yahoo, there was never any spam. Only after the new and improved verson have I been regularly getting two spam a day. If it wasn’t broke, why did someone fiix it?
I wonder why it is that Yahoo can not stop spammers from sending mail dated in the future or the past? So much of the spam is dated years in the future, and occasionally I get something in my regular inbox dated a year or two in the past. I am sure most legitimate email is sent today- so why can’t this be fixed?
Some canned spam is good for you.
It is low in ldrs and is good for your blood.
hey go to http://www.4kids.tv/user/profile/samima and check it out! SK
We have a school community email list and email account that a few people manage. The problem is when we want to send a message to a few hundred people yahoo blocks it from going out. I have broken the list into 11 sub groups to get under the minimum but after about three subgroups go out it won’t let me send out the other subgroups. Any suggestions?
YOU NEED TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE SPAM FILTERS
How do you set your email to automaticlly reject emails from a source after you mark it as spam? The right emails go into my spam folder. I I keep getting spam from some of the same addresses over and over. It would be great if Yahoo could just block email from an address after I’ve marked it as spam. I’m getting 40 to 50 a day, some from the same addresses. If I can get them blocked, maybe I can get the number reduced. Is there a way to totally block them or do they just keep dumping in the spam folder?
youre new mailing system idont like and youre spam stinks you got to deleat every one one at a time hell there is 150 to 200 pieces everyday in my box . i even get good mail in spam box.now it takes 2 hrs every night to see if i got any good mail in my box.by deleating it one at a time .ihate it and now its time for a change. been nice with you for years. now om moving on wallace
yes those around da world yahoo is fanastic website let chat together!!!!
yahoo bravo
erisam
dodoma
tanzania
mpendwaeric@yahoo.com
hey ps
Blah
LC,
Grieve not fair maiden. I find the average is 10 spam to 1 real, or higher! Since my E-mail is set to permanently reject anything else from the site (after I spam file it) it keeps it under control. Check your settings to ‘tighten up” your mail box. After one weekend off I had over 300 in the spam file. Dump them all!
For problems receiving mail you want, make sure that the E-address is set Accept in your spam filter. I accidentally blocked one of my contacts and and to clear the block so I would recieve it again. God Bless you and all you do,
Larry H.
WHAT is up with making me fill out one of those $#%$ing captchas to send an email?!?!?!?!?
Yahoo’s free…. you get what you pay for.
Boo-hiss!!!!!
I always get a lot of SPAM to my inbox which I didn’t remember registering myself to these websites.
It is as if someone registered me to them and enabled them to send my messages.
I take my mail as a very serious thing and I’m getting annoyed by all these SPAM messages.
I am so sick of Yahoo’s Mail System. How the heck do you guys think that we are going to get mail to our clients, when you don’t tell us what to do. You only give us half of everything to know, and your customer support is absolutely horrible. I tried to get on your whitelisting program for the last 4 months and have had 0 success. I have a legitimate client base of about 40,000 people, and my Yahoo clients never receive their mail. You guys block it all. I hope that you can step up and take some pride in your system and not be so afraid of answering peoples questions and actually GIVING support. Try looking at some of the other major ISP clients and how they do it. It says a lot about the confidence you have in your program when you won’t even provide a phone number!
I was yesterday harm by the yahoo authorities,my box where i store all this office imformations was closed and couldn’t open till now.Please sir i am pleading for retrive of that box so that my office will not hot my family and i am supporting your security program.
Thanks Rita
I was yesterday harm by yahoo,my box whrere i store all the office information couldn’t open again till now.I happy with this yahoo security programm and i will be in support but please i am peading this company to open that box for me,i promise to be faithful and cooperative with every condition given to me.
I just saw the new feature for email chat however I have 2 yahoo email addresses and the one I get the chat on is one that I never use hence I have no contacts, whereas the one I always use does not have chat on it for some reason so why is that the case and how can I change it??
Seriously- in the last 6 days I have more acai berry, watch, penis growth and other spam than I’ve had in the entire 20 years I’ve had email. It’s getting worse. Not a clue why- I have my filters on, and even wrote up some additional ones trying to kill the spam..not cool. I came here when I saw my 52nd email of the day- from nz address, headers from ru, and oh yeah, a detail about how I can be Just Like Oprah. not cool.
When will regular mail search work like it used to? I used to be able to search for mail that was more than a few months old. No more. This question is asked over and over by many different users in various comments section and I’ve never seen it answered. Thanks!
All of these comments are interesting. I have virtually no spam, and the few items that are re-directed to spam are usually items that “could” be considered spam by others. To my knowledge, I also get all of the mail that I’m supposed to. Maybe the solution is to use the disposable addresses. That’s all I use. I never use my original email address, and have any incoming email to that address filtered to delete. I’m VERY happy with this setup.
Not sure why but now every other mail i send from our domain ( ) is now getting ‘deferred’.
its not spam and its pretty annoying.
….I also agree 2 u! every individuals, have there freedom 2 say, everything they want 2 say to others, as long. they know if it is harmful then….
Is that what’s happening?? I’m pretty new at all this computer stuff, and I have been getting that awful e-mail that keeps telling me that I’ve won tons of money from some foreign country from a relative who died in a car wreck, an airplane crash, and who know what else!!! I keep putting them in that Spam folder, and I now have over 78 of them. I WAS sending them all to the F.B.I. in Washington DC!! My Daughter told me to just put them in the Spam folder, but nothing happens to them. They just STAY there!!! I’m pretty frustrated with this whole mess!!!!
I am now getting spam that shows it is from me to me……about 12-20 of these daily selling viagra and drugs. Also some of my mail is now showing up unread in the trash rather than the in box….
And then I get the 4-5 daily requests to help people move millions into the USA or that I’ve won some remote lottery…..
It’s really getting worse and worse and worse….
Could sure use some help here…..
sounds like a similar problem that i am having. last 48 hours all mail sent from my work address to my wife’s yahoo and my own yahoo have never even reached the spam. had this checked by my own IT guys no problem with my work mail program, just yahoo blocking the mail. what good is spam control if its blocking normal mail.
time to move on after 10 yrs i guess, especially when they dont respond to the feed back.
Your spam service is terrible. It gets worse by the day. Clicking on spam is a joke and a waste of time. Please try something new. Your spam system sucks. I get 30 to 40 viagra spams daily. Your spam team is incompetent or your spam program is obsolete and ineffective.
I keep marking items as spam and then put them on my blocked senders list and block their @xyz.com. I still continue to get their emails. WHY????????? If your spam-blocking is working so great, maybe you need to re-evaluate your parameters! S
I agree with a few things Adam said.It was kinda true.I never got spam at all,except that I sent wrong emails then a reply showed up”Mailer_demom….’or something like that,I mark it spam,then it come in spamed ,after some time then they come in to my inbox.I joined a few web…let’s say it like this.
I join a game called meetoto which needs email adds to work.Every time,they said they have sent something to me which my Yahoo! toolbar never detected.Luckily,I will always check my email,so I won’t miss a thing.
My mom used my email add to get emails from my aunt,she aslo use it to sign in a few web, which came in….spam.No matter how I mark as not spam, I come in inbox,later,come in spam.
My inbox change the last time I went in,it kinda scared me,it aslo beacame slower to load,why’s that so ?I hope yahoo can give me an explanation.
Well, I hope yahoo can make it better for us all ,I do ,really.
Can anybody recommend a decent third party spam filter that actually works. I run a small business and get 10 – 15 spam a day. I wouldnt mind paying $100 or so a year that stops spam before it reaches my pc. I have my yahoo account now for about 5 years and cant changeit now .
I have tried twice to get help with mt mail…anybody?
does this work
I also receive numerous spam messages every day. I would say I get about 20 a day. I always mark them as spam. Yet, I get 20 the next day too….. What do you do with these spam notifications?
What I don’t get is why the same spam e-mails keep being accepted. I need a way to go through my spam folder and mark an e-mail so that it will auto-reject e-mails with the same exact title as the one I mark. Oh sure, things get in to the spam folder appropriately enough. However, 20 copies of the same mail for weeks on end continue to end up there to be sorted through. A spam folder is great, but some ‘auto-reject’ training is what’s needed.
I don’t need gadgety “connections” filters to surface what the system thinks I want. I need *control* over what I see. “Better management” of my inbox starts with you keeping the crap out. Let us add to the autoreject list directly. Even if we have to provide you with two seperate emails linked together to show it really was a spamup, I don’t care. Get the basics down right, then add options, don’t force things on us. You’ve been doing it for YEARS, and its why I only come to Yahoo now to criticize it in hopes they will learn how to treat customers.
It seems that the spam filter don’t work on weekends. I get tons of spam in my in box on Sat.& Sun., but not during the week. Must be the czar don’t work weekends
In recent months, most of my spam has gone directly to my spam folder. About 20 spams a day are starting show up in my inbox. what’s changed? Whatever you were doing right please go back to doing it.
Message from Yahoo, when i tried to reply to an email:
finish sending this message and help us fight spam, please enter the character string as it is shown in the box below.
Trouble seeing this image?
YES YES YES. image is too much messed up for me to send the email/reply to it..
Character string shown:
Why do I have to do this?
This step helps Yahoo! prevent spammers from using Yahoo! Mail, and helps to ensure that your email will be delivered.
Character string verification technology developed in collaboration with the Captcha Project at Carnegie Mellon University.
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