Who decides what should go into Spam?

[Bouleversee]

Was it Microsoft, Avast, or Yahoo or something else who sent the 3 messages from my nephew, whom I had previously emailed and whose email address comes up as soon as I type his first name, telling me the latest news about the situation of my sister who is dangerously ill in hospital, into my Spam box? There was absolutely nothing in any of them which could possibly be construed as spam and I am absolutely livid, especially when all sorts of messages which I think are spam get into my inbox. I'd like to know who I can complain to. It's obviously down to AI but the programming needs correcting p.d.q.

[ReformedCharacter]

Was it Microsoft, Avast, or Yahoo or something else who sent the 3 messages from my nephew, whom I had previously emailed and whose email address comes up as soon as I type his first name, telling me the latest news about the situation of my sister who is dangerously ill in hospital, into my Spam box? There was absolutely nothing in any of them which could possibly be construed as spam and I am absolutely livid, especially when all sorts of messages which I think are spam get into my inbox. I'd like to know who I can complain to. It's obviously down to AI but the programming needs correcting p.d.q.

Which email client are you using? It wouldn't be Avast. You can most likely 'white-list' known good email senders - such as family members - so that you don't miss important emails because they won't be spam filtered.

RC

[Bouleversee]

Was it Microsoft, Avast, or Yahoo or something else who sent the 3 messages from my nephew, whom I had previously emailed and whose email address comes up as soon as I type his first name, telling me the latest news about the situation of my sister who is dangerously ill in hospital, into my Spam box? There was absolutely nothing in any of them which could possibly be construed as spam and I am absolutely livid, especially when all sorts of messages which I think are spam get into my inbox. I'd like to know who I can complain to. It's obviously down to AI but the programming needs correcting p.d.q.

Which email client are you using? It wouldn't be Avast. You can most likely 'white-list' known good email senders - such as family members - so that you don't miss important emails because they won't be spam filtered.

RC

I'm not sure what you mean. I thought I was the client. My internet provider is Plus Net, my email service provider is Yahoo, and my HP computer has the latest Microsoft programme and I think they use Avast to check for hackers etc. and I presume they installed the Avast icon on my computer; I certainly didn't . I noticed that Avast claims to have screened some of the messages in the spam box, so perhaps it was them I don't think their name was mentioned on these messages, however. There is a contact list but I thought that anyone I emailed was automatically added to that. It never occurred to me to look in Spam for these messages. I just thought my nephew was waiting for developments and didn't have anything new to tell me but eventually I had to ring him to find out what was happening, which was quite a lot.

NB: I am an old lady whose knowledge of computers is limited and half the lingo is incomprehensible to me.

[gryffron]

I'm not sure what you mean. I thought I was the client. My internet provider is Plus Net, my email service provider is Yahoo, and my HP computer has the latest Microsoft programme and I think they use Avast to check for hackers etc. and I presume they installed the Avast icon on my computer;

What exactly do you click on when you want to access your email? Do you use the Windows "Mail" app, Thunderbird, or do you use your browser (Chrome,Edge,Firefox)?

Gryff

[Breelander]

Was it Microsoft, Avast, or Yahoo or something else who sent the 3 messages from my nephew ... into my Spam box? There was absolutely nothing in any of them which could possibly be construed as spam and I am absolutely livid, especially when all sorts of messages which I think are spam get into my inbox. I'd like to know who I can complain to. It's obviously down to AI but the programming needs correcting p.d.q.

It was Yahoo, and its AI does make mistakes sometimes.

Their AI can be trained not to do it again for that type of email by selecting that email in your Spam folder and clicking 'Not Spam' on the menu bar above the Spam folder. This returns it to your Yahoo Inbox and tells the Spam filter that emails like this are not to be treated as Spam in the future.

Likewise, those that do make it into your Inbox can be marked as Spam, moving it to your Spam folder and training the Spam filter to treat subsequent similar emails as Spam.

[Newroad]

I agree, Breelander.

Almost certainly it was Yahoo's spam filter.

Before Bouleversee or anyone else judges them, you would need to understand why the AI did what it did (not that you'll actually be able to do that in practise). One possible scenario is that Bouleversee's nephew's account has been hacked and is indeed sending spam elsewhere - in which case genuine emails get caught in the "spam classification" crossfire.

Regards, Newroad

[Bouleversee]

I'm not sure what you mean. I thought I was the client. My internet provider is Plus Net, my email service provider is Yahoo, and my HP computer has the latest Microsoft programme and I think they use Avast to check for hackers etc. and I presume they installed the Avast icon on my computer;

What exactly do you click on when you want to access your email? Do you use the Windows "Mail" app, Thunderbird, or do you use your browser (Chrome,Edge,Firefox)?

Gryff

Yahoo is my home page and I just click on the inbox.

[monabri]

If you have the email address of friends/relatives in your list of contacts then any emails received should go into your inbox and not spam.

If you were to go into your spam folder and scroll to find the emails that are genuine, you should be able to "right click" on the email to say " not spam" ( or " not junk").

It might be that friends have sent an email using a different email address?

[Bouleversee]

Was it Microsoft, Avast, or Yahoo or something else who sent the 3 messages from my nephew ... into my Spam box? There was absolutely nothing in any of them which could possibly be construed as spam and I am absolutely livid, especially when all sorts of messages which I think are spam get into my inbox. I'd like to know who I can complain to. It's obviously down to AI but the programming needs correcting p.d.q.

It was Yahoo, and its AI does make mistakes sometimes.

Their AI can be trained not to do it again for that type of email by selecting that email in your Spam folder and clicking 'Not Spam' on the menu bar above the Spam folder. This returns it to your Yahoo Inbox and tells the Spam filter that emails like this are not to be treated as Spam in the future.

Likewise, those that do make it into your Inbox can be marked as Spam, moving it to your Spam folder and training the Spam filter to treat subsequent similar emails as Spam.

Thanks, Bree. I had actually already done that as regards these particular messages and routinely do that for messages which they have let through which are clearly Spam. I am pretty confident that emails from my nephew won't be spammed again. However, I don't know what you mean by "that type of". I'm less confident that were messages sent by my niece (with whom I don't think I have communicated by email) about her mother's medical situation, they would not meet the same fate. I'd really like to know what criteria the Yahoo AI applies and do something to improve that.because this is ludicrous.and before you say I am banging my head against a brick wall, I did that for some years before we got independent taxation for wives' investment income and capital gains (letters somewhere in my loft from Lawson , Clarke et al) but I expect you all now take that for granted.. i just need to know how I can access the powers that be as regards Spam filtering.

[Bouleversee]

I agree, Breelander.

Almost certainly it was Yahoo's spam filter.

Before Bouleversee or anyone else judges them, you would need to understand why the AI did what it did (not that you'll actually be able to do that in practise). One possible scenario is that Bouleversee's nephew's account has been hacked and is indeed sending spam elsewhere - in which case genuine emails get caught in the "spam classification" crossfire.

Regards, Newroad

Interesting, Newroad. I hadn't thought of that. His email address is @ blueyonder, of which I hadn't heard. I shouldn't have thought he was a canditate for hacking, however.. Your comment in parenthesis is offputting and depressing. One should be able to do that ; otherwise it is always going to be garbage in and garbage out which defeats the objects of AI. whIch could be such a life enhancing tool.

[Breelander]

...I'd really like to know what criteria the Yahoo AI applies and do something to improve that..... i just need to know how I can access the powers that be as regards Spam filtering.

I'm afraid you will not get any response out of Yahoo, however hard you bang your head against the wall

Nobody except Yahoo can answer this, and they won’t....

Spam filtering at any of the large companies is going to involve dozens or hundreds of variables. Here’s some examples...

... they’re not going to give detailed information (ever - to anyone) because any public information will only help spammers and cost their bottom line.

https://www.quora.com/How-does-Yahoo-sp ... ction-work

This is a guide for those sending emails to avoid being mistakenly classified as spam.

https://www.mailmodo.com/guides/yahoo-spam-filter/

[Mike4]

Yahoo have a terrible reputation for flakey spam filtering. A terrible reputation for everything in fact!

I use gmail and they also get criticised, but I find their spam filtering absolutely bang on, and have been ever since I first subscribed when googlemail was first invented.

[Lootman]

Yahoo have a terrible reputation for flakey spam filtering. A terrible reputation for everything in fact!

I use gmail and they also get criticised, but I find their spam filtering absolutely bang on, and have been ever since I first subscribed when googlemail was first invented.

Plus Gmail does not bombard you with video ads every time you want to check your mail, like Yahoo email does.

Apparently nobody under 40 uses yahoo email. But I am locked in.

[Mike4]

Yahoo have a terrible reputation for flakey spam filtering. A terrible reputation for everything in fact!

I use gmail and they also get criticised, but I find their spam filtering absolutely bang on, and have been ever since I first subscribed when googlemail was first invented.

Plus Gmail does not bombard you with video ads every time you want to check your mail, like Yahoo email does.

Apparently nobody under 40 uses yahoo email. But I am locked in.

You must have considered registering yer own domain name. Then you can port your email to any provider you like, whenever you like, according to how good they are (or not). Plus you get it all stored at your domain host and accessible as webmail.

[servodude]

Yahoo have a terrible reputation for flakey spam filtering. A terrible reputation for everything in fact!

I use gmail and they also get criticised, but I find their spam filtering absolutely bang on, and have been ever since I first subscribed when googlemail was first invented.

Plus Gmail does not bombard you with video ads every time you want to check your mail, like Yahoo email does.

Apparently nobody under 40 uses yahoo email. But I am locked in.

You must have considered registering yer own domain name. Then you can port your email to any provider you like, whenever you like, according to how good they are (or not). Plus you get it all stored at your domain host and accessible as webmail.

Your own domain Mike? Ooooh, fancy.

Anyways there's no need for such extravagance you can use Gmail to read Yahoo https://smallbusiness.chron.com/use-gmail-read-yahoo-mail-46217.html

- sd

[Lootman]

Yahoo have a terrible reputation for flakey spam filtering. A terrible reputation for everything in fact!

I use gmail and they also get criticised, but I find their spam filtering absolutely bang on, and have been ever since I first subscribed when googlemail was first invented.

Plus Gmail does not bombard you with video ads every time you want to check your mail, like Yahoo email does.

Apparently nobody under 40 uses yahoo email. But I am locked in.

You must have considered registering yer own domain name. Then you can port your email to any provider you like, whenever you like, according to how good they are (or not). Plus you get it all stored at your domain host and accessible as webmail.

Your own domain Mike? Ooooh, fancy.

Anyways there's no need for such extravagance you can use Gmail to read Yahoo https://smallbusiness.chron.com/use-gmail-read-yahoo-mail-46217.html

None of that will get around the OP's problem if the source (Yahoo) is still the conduit.

[Mike4]

Your own domain Mike? Ooooh, fancy.

Yeah I grabbed my own surname for my personal domain name back in the last century! Plus of course my trading name.

Anyways there's no need for such extravagance you can use Gmail to read Yahoo https://smallbusiness.chron.com/use-gmail-read-yahoo-mail-46217.html

- sd

Using gmail to import mails fro Yahoo sounds like the perfect solution, assuming it gets all of them and does its own spam sorting. Brill suggestion!

[Stompa]

None of that will get around the OP's problem if the source (Yahoo) is still the conduit.

I guess it probably would if you were to disable the spam filter in Yahoo.
Which it seems can be done, though in a slightly convoluted way:

https://c-command.com/spamsieve/help/tu ... he-yahoo-m

[Bouleversee]

...I'd really like to know what criteria the Yahoo AI applies and do something to improve that..... i just need to know how I can access the powers that be as regards Spam filtering.

I'm afraid you will not get any response out of Yahoo, however hard you bang your head against the wall

Nobody except Yahoo can answer this, and they won’t....

Spam filtering at any of the large companies is going to involve dozens or hundreds of variables. Here’s some examples...

... they’re not going to give detailed information (ever - to anyone) because any public information will only help spammers and cost their bottom line.

https://www.quora.com/How-does-Yahoo-sp ... ction-work

This is a guide for those sending emails to avoid being mistakenly classified as spam.

https://www.mailmodo.com/guides/yahoo-spam-filter/

Thanks for the educstion, Brie. I don't know how you dig up this stuff. I don't want them to tell me anything; I want to tell them a few things but I guess
I'm wasting my time since robots don't have eyes or ears and I admit defeat. Do you suppose that when we are all dead snd gone and life on the plsnet is ubsustainable for humans robots will still be able to run the show?

[csearle]

Yeah I grabbed my own surname for my personal domain name back in the last century!

I do believe you are the only Mr Theboilerman in the country¹. C.

¹ Unless you have sons.