Well, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It appeared as though a couple of emails that I expected disappeared into
the ether. So, I checked the Spam filter at Gmail, and the one at
Earthlink.
;
I discovered a significant number of legitimate emails were filtered
out by Gmail, mostly commercial messages I subscribe to, and commercial
newsletters. Also, ;three from one individual on a forum, and over one
month, a dozen, or so, from a prolific poster on another forum. I
examined about 1,000 emails, filtered out as Spam, by Gmail, during the one
month. Approximately 3% were marked 'Spam,' in error. The errors were
clustered mostly in the last few days. Moral: It pays to check, now and again.
None of the mis-marked emails was from an individual email address.
I believe the prolific poster was filtered out in part
because of the combination of her using Apple Mail, and the graphics and
articles she pastes in, using the HTML format (i.e., she includes web pages as
they normally display, instead of as text.) Apple Mail also puts emails that are
Replied to in frames, it appears to me. My guess is that Gmail's filter responds
to these characteristics as being common Spam traits.
Gmail uses a heavy duty email Spam filter, which examines emails
heuristically, i.e., it searches for combinations of common spam
characteristics, in addition to filtering out known spam addresses, and
domains. Earthlink's is configurable; so I only filter out known
Spam at that service. (Most of my mail goes through Gmail, then is forwarded
through Earthlink.) I receive, on average, a total of about 1-3 spam emails a
day, in my email client.
Anyhow, marking them 'Spam' is supposed to update the Gmail address book,
which normally ensures receipt into the Inbox. Placing email addresses in the
Gmail address book is normally sufficient, according to Mr. Google.
~~Robert
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