Tracking URL

When looking at the Report Page of the Parser Results, the top of the page contains these words (your reference number will be different);

Spam Header
This page may be saved for future reference:
http://www.spamcop.net/sc?id=z641303267z045b750a0c3cf8aa3bfef3b3d92488bfz
Skip to Reports

This "future reference" URL is the "Tracking URL" .... As one of the IronPort "purchase" benefits has turned out to be the addition of some serious storage capabilities, the entire spam submittal is now stored (for some time). These days, things are made much easier when asking for some review, analysis, or assistance; simply copy this provided link and use it to point to the spam submittal in your query. This way, anyone looking to try to answer the query is looking at the spam submittal as the SpamCop parsing engine saw it, thus everyone is talking about the same data.

Update: those lines in the parser output now read as;
Spam Header
Here is your TRACKING URL - it may be saved for future reference:
http://www.spamcop.net/sc?id=z641303267z045b750a0c3cf8aa3bfef3b3d92488bfz
Skip to Reports

Using Tracking URLs in SpamCop forum/newsgroup posts

You may have been referred to this page because you are trying to post details of a spam message to the SpamCop forums∞ or newsgroups (at news://news.spamcop.net/∞). Generally, readers of the forums and newsgroups prefer that sample e-mail messages be provided in the form of Tracking URLs rather than plain text pasted into your posting. Here, we will explain what Tracking URLs are, why you should use them, and how you can get them and use them.

What is a Tracking URL? Within SpamCop, a "Tracking URL" is simply a web link that points to an already-completed SpamCop analysis of an e-mail message. The SpamCop parser provides you with a Tracking URL for each message you submit and process. The Tracking URL points to the original message you submitted for analysis, as well as to the results of the SpamCop parse. You do not have to complete the reporting of a message in order to get a Tracking URL, so you can safely get Tracking URLs on messages without actually reporting them as spam (although you should either positively complete or cancel the reports before posting the Tracking URL, as we will note below).

Tracking URLs are "world-readable" web links -- this means that you can give them out to other people (i.e., not just on the forums or newsgroups), and they can read them to see what is going on without needing a password, etc. Usually, your e-mail address (and possibly those of other recipients) are disguised so that others cannot see it, although more obscure references (such as web bugs) may survive, as well as any third-party addresses to whom you've copied the reports. You may want to consider this latter point before posting a tracking URL, if you are worried about even the potential of exposing such information.

Here's what a typical tracking URL looks like (you can click on it to view it, provided it hasn't become too old and been purged from the system):



Why do you need to use Tracking URLs? If you are like too many first-time posters, you will simply cut and paste big chunks of spam you have received into the forums or newsgroups. This leads to many problems:

1. You may leave out important details that you don't realize are important.
2. You may alter the data in ways that make things difficult for those who might want to help you (in fact, your post may get critically altered in the course of normal HTML rendering, without your being aware).
3. You may include verbatim spam links that advertise spam operations, or that may even damage readers' computers if they are unwise enough to click on them.
4. You may expose personal information (e-mail addresses belonging to you or others) to the public at large, including some members of the public whom you'd not want to include in the distribution. The forums and newsgroups are publicly-readable, which means that the information they contain can be indexed by search engines and harvested by spammers (and other abusers).
5. You may tax the patience or attention spans of forum- or newsgroup-readers due to the excessive length or detail of your posts. Grumpy people are less likely to want to help you.

Therefore, if you seek advice on a particular e-mail message you have received, it is usually best to post a Tracking URL instead of the full text of the e-mail message in question:

1. Via the Tracking URL, others can see EXACTLY and IN FULL what you submitted for analysis.
2. They can see what SpamCop found out about what you submitted, and can check up on these results if they are questionable or unclear, or if there are problems with what you submitted to the parser.
3. You will not directly expose your (or others') personal information by posting it in the forums or newsgroups. The tracking links themselves are protected from normal search-engine indexing (via an entry in a "robots.txt" file), so they cannot be routinely "googled" (or "yahoo'd" or "msn'd" etc.).
4. You will keep your posts short and sweet, without having to pick-and-choose what details you provide (which can lead to confusion and insufficient information).

How do you get a Tracking URL? In order to get a Tracking URL for a message, you must be a registered SpamCop user, and must submit the message of interest to the SpamCop parser for analysis.

Here's how to get a Tracking URL from a spam that you submit via the SpamCop web form:

1. Register to use SpamCop (for free) if you are not already a member: http://www.spamcop.net/anonsignup.shtml∞
2. Get the original, full, and unmodified SMTP packet of the spam mail you received. Follow these instructions if you need them: http://www.spamcop.net/fom-serve/cache/19.html∞
3. Log in to the SpamCop website using your registration name and password.
4. Paste the spam packet into the web form.
5. Press the "Process spam" button and wait for the parser to analyze the message.
6. On the results page, near the top, you will see "Here is your TRACKING URL..." -- this is the link you want to save and paste to the forums or newsgroups.
7. If you want to continue on and report the spam, click the "Send spam Report(s) Now" button as usual. Otherwise you should cancel the reports via the "Cancel" button.
   1. You do not want to leave a "dangling" report (i.e., one that has not been either sent or cancelled) because others might be able to make the decision for you (accidentally or on purpose).
   2. In either case, whether you report or cancel, the Tracking URL is retained for your use.

If you send your spam to SpamCop via e-mail submission∞, or if you are forwarding your mail∞ from your own e-mail account to SpamCop for filtering, then you will get Tracking URLs when you visit the SpamCop site and submit each of these these messages for parsing.

If you want the Tracking URL for a spam that you have already submitted and processed (and you have the Report ID), please see FAQ Entry: Getting a Tracking URL from a Report ID∞.

Things that aren't Tracking URLs. Most people reading these instructions will get the picture and will have no trouble with Tracking URLs. Some, however, will mistakenly provide some other kind of URL instead. Specifically:

1. Links or URLs that you find in the message itself (e.g., spam website links) are not tracking URLs and are not useful in analyzing your message. Worse, if you paste them into your message, and unwise people follow them, they could wind up triggering some malware exploit that hides behind the links.
2. The link that appears in the URL window of your browser (i.e., at the very top, where you type in the names of the sites you want to visit) is likewise not a tracking link. Anyone using this link would have to have your username and password in order to fully load it, and you certainly do not want to hand out your login info to strangers. Your Tracking URL should start with www.spamcop.net, and not mailsc.spamcop.net or anything else.

How long can you use a Tracking URL? Presently, tracking URLs remain valid and useful for up to 90 days. This should give you enough time to get immediate feedback from the forums or newsgroups. If you suspect that you will have need to refer to a given message later on (i.e., after 90 days), you can save the raw spam packet in a file on your computer, and then resubmit it to the parser to get a fresh tracking URL (SpamCop will likely refuse to file reports on such elderly messages, however).

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CategorySpamCopParsing
CategorySpamCopReporting

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Also see:
Getting a Tracking URL from a Report ID∞
SpamCop Report and SpamCop report types

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CategorySpamCop
SpamCopReporting
CategorySpamCopParsing
CategorySpamCopReporting
CategorySpamCopGlossaryWikiT

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