FAQ Entry: SpamCop Account Types Options

[Jeff G.]

There are three Account Types for SpamCop Reporters, in graduated levels based on experience, feature set desired, and willingness to pay.

The first level Account is the SpamCop Free Reporting Account (because it's free), and a holder of one is called a Free Reporter. The usage of the SpamCop Parsing and Reporting Service by Free Reporters is only partially subsidized by the advertising they view; the rest of their usage is subsidized and supported by IronPort, IronPort's committed but overworked Employees, Volunteers (such as the Admin and Moderators of these Forums, including the author of this FAQ Entry), and the holders of the other Accounts described below.

The next level Account is the SpamCop Premium Member Account, and a holder of one is called a Premium Member. The difference between a SpamCop Free Reporting Account and a SpamCop Premium Member Account is fuel. Fuel costs money (basically a dollar per megabyte of spam processed, with a dollar surcharge for purchases under US$15 due to transaction costs), but an upgrade to a Upgrade to a Premium Member Account has the following advantages in terms of additional features, per Upgrade to a premium member account:

    * No advertising or delay (nag) screens;
    * Access to the database to check reports you have sent in the past 30 days;
    * The option to appeal a website/URL issue in parsed spam that you find has been incorrectly reported as 'closed' or an 'innocent bystander'

Not mentioned on that page is Premium Members' access to the Report History and User Notification Report features.

The final level Account is the SpamCop Email System Account, and a holder of one is called a SpamCop Email System Customer. Aside from access to the SpamCop Email System, for Reporting purposes, a SpamCop Email System Account is like a SpamCop Premium Member Account with unlimited fuel, but with added access to the following features: VER - Very Easy Reporting, User Defined Recipient Reports, and User Notification Reports.

Another type of Account is the ISP Account (which is designed solely to allow an ISP to deal with SpamCop from Report-recipient and Network-owner perspectives), and a holder of one is called an ISP Account Holder. ISPs cannot send SpamCop Reports using an ISP Account, they must use another Account (with a different email address) for Reporting. ISP Account Holders only have access to the Statistics and Change Password features, plus the following exclusive features:

• "ISP control center" via the default "Control Center" Tab, which allows them to specify a series of IP Addresses and either "Find reports" or "Close issues" regarding those IP Addresses
• "Configure alerts" (email alerts of SCBL listings and/or Reports), "Report munging" (request or refuse munged reports), "Periodic Summary Reports" (including hourly or daily frequency and sort type), and "Report Type selection" (whether or not to accept source, www, email, relay, notify, ns, and/or intermediary reports) via the "Preferences" Tab, which allows them to configure how the SpamCop Parsing and Reporting Service communicates with them automatically
• "Request Aggregate Reports" via the "Request Reports" Tab, which allows them to specify IP Address Ranges and the frequency (hourly or daily) with which they want to receive Aggregate Reports
• Display of IP Address Ranges and the types of routes in place (assignments between those Ranges and that ISP Account) for immediate Reports via the "Show routes" Tab

Of course, there are other Administrative-type Accounts for IronPort's SpamCop-related Employees in their roles as SpamCop Staff (SpamCop Deputies and SpamCop Admins) with access to certain Administrative features and databases (Admins have more access in certain functional areas than Deputies), including certain other withdrawn informational features that could be (and probably were) used for evil in spammers' hands, such as Detailed Report History and SCBL Listing History. Deputies and Admins have been known to use that access to privately provide to respectful ISPs hints about the problems on their networks that underlie their SCBL listings. Due to the persistent nature of access to the SpamCop Parsing and Reporting System and these Account holders' needs to Report their own spam, it is assumed that these Accounts have the Reporting features of a SpamCop Email System Account. Please note: that other Moderators and I, while titled "Moderator" in these Forums, are volunteers here and SpamCop Email System Customers from a Reporting perspective (with the rights such status entails); that Wazoo, while titled "Admin" in these forums, is a volunteer here and a Free Reporter from a Reporting perspective (with the rights such status entails); that JT, while the owner of Corporate Email Services and its SpamCop Email System, is virtually a SpamCop Email System Customer from a Reporting perspective (albeit with Very Easy Reporting hooks and a shared customer base); and that the information in this particular paragraph is somewhat speculative in nature (as it deals with incomplete information about the confidential inner workings of a company), and Deputies and Admins are likely to neither confirm nor deny it.


Edit: 2005/10/27 13:29 EDT -0400 Jeff G. modified the last paragraph to address some of the feedback below.
Edit: 2005/11/07 12:18 PDT -0700 dbiel added HTML tags and references to them.
Edit: 2005/11/07 12:57 EST -0500 Jeff G. added the User Notification Report feature and the above edit line.

This post has been edited by Jeff G.: Nov 7 2005, 12:57 PM

[turetzsr]

...Nicely said, Jeff G! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) <g>

<snip>
Of course, there are other Administrative-type Accounts for IronPort Employees in their roles as SpamCop Deputies and SpamCop Admins with access to certain Administrative features and databases (Admins have more access in certain functional areas than Deputies)
<snip>

...You might point out that Wazoo is not such an Admin, despite the tag that appears here in the SpamCop Fora (right, Wazoo?).

[Wazoo]

...Nicely said, Jeff G! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) <g>...You might point out that Wazoo is not such an Admin, despite the tag that appears here in the SpamCop Fora (right, Wazoo?).

Easy answer .. correct
Tough part ... I had started typing some stuff, then thought to check 'where' I was at ... here's try #2 ... the "IromPort employee" line .... I asked for information when putting together the Forum FAQ on actual "job titles" for instance, figuring that in filling out time sheets and such, IronPort didn't actually have an office position titled Deputy. Long dialog thing later, Forum FAQ thing stands as I posted it, no feedback, complaints, suggestins, additions noted .... (this kind of looks silly, but .. that not for public thing again)

try #3 ... not sure if a hyphen or dash or what it should be, but suggest changing "IronPort employee" to something like "IronPort/SpamCop.net staff" .... at the root of this is a recollection of a newsgroup thread, somene looking up contact data on an IronPort web-page, the calling an IronPort number about a SpamCop.net issue. The end result was not pretty, but does suggest that there needs to be some 'difference' noted.

The "Admin" title here ... confusing to most due to the volunteer mode, just haven't come up with something that would possibly clear that up in one word ... yet, some folks don't even catch the drift of or appear to even see that page ... for instance, the e-mails sent to Don/Deputies on Forum issues like login problems ... when finding/reading any of the FAQ data is so hard for some, it's amazing that others can find and use the wrong data somewhere esle ...

And noted elsewhere, I'm still trying to get some support on the "offical" FAQ on the "naming" of that "Premium" "Paid Reporting" "Reporting Only" "Fuel Type" account as described differently in so many places.

[Jeff G.]

Thanks for your input. I just modified the last paragraph to reflect it.

[turetzsr]

Thanks for your input.  I just modified the last paragraph to reflect it.

...Thanks, Jeff G! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) <g>

[dbiel]

Wazoo, in light of the two different uses of "Admin"; I wonder it you want to (not sure if you actually can) change the Title of the Admin group to "Forum Admin" which would at least indicate some difference.
Just a suggestion, take it or leave it. I am perfectly happy with the way it is right now.
Wazoo, there is no need to respond to this post.

Jeff, thank you for writting up such a great FAQ
I took a great liberty in adding html tags to "User Defined Recipient Reports", and "User Notification Reports" links to make it consistant with the "VER - Very Easy Reporting," link.
I hope that I did not step over the line.
Thank you for such an excellent FAQ

[Jeff G.]

Wazoo, in light of the two different uses of "Admin"; I wonder it you want to (not sure if you actually can) change the Title of the Admin group to "Forum Admin" which would at least indicate some difference.
Just a suggestion, take it or leave it.  I am perfectly happy with the way it is right now.
Wazoo, there is no need to respond to this post.

I would support such a change, but I'm not sure it would fly technically.

Jeff, thank you for writting up such a great FAQ

You're welcome.

I took a great liberty in adding html tags to "User Defined Recipient Reports", and "User Notification Reports" links to make it consistant with the "VER - Very Easy Reporting," link.
I hope that I did not step over the line.

Thanks for the the changes. No, you did not step over the line. I was thinking about making those changes myself, along with putting in a set of forward links to such tags. I would not object to you adding appropriate links to any of my text in any of my Posts, especially for words or phrases in Initial Caps, which I use because those words or phrases have special meaning in the context of SpamCop. In the future, however, please be aware that my former habit of using angle brackets to encapsulate the @ sign (and others' similar habits when ecapsulating other things or posting unrendered HTML) may bite you when converting a Post from BBCode to HTML, as it nearly bit me.