Negative scores (was Re: [Mimedefang] scores displayed in $tests)

[David F. Skoll]

On Wed, 7 May 2003, Nels Lindquist wrote:

> This is a much-discussed issue on the sa-talk (probably the single
> most FAQ) and will be addressed in the imminent 2.54 release.

Good, glad to hear that.

However, I think any negative-score rules are bad.  Even if individual
rule magnitudes are small, it's easy to craft a message that will
trigger many negative rules.  Also, a lot of the negative-weight
scores are truly esoteric -- how many people get genuine e-mail that
triggers USER_AGENT_GNUS_UA or DEBIAN_BTS_BUG that would be classified
as spam without the negative-weight rule? :-)

The only way negative scores make sense is if you have a meta-rule
that says "if this e-mail triggers four or more negative-weighted
rules, then reset all negative weights to zero."

That at least limits the damage.

--
David.