Drop in usage

[dra007]

Looks like we have dropped to less than 1 new topic per day. The users making contributions are few and in between. Just wondering if this forum is losing relevance and is becoming so obscure because of accessibility end exposure issues, even regular users have dropped from the scene altogether yet I haven't seen a drop in spam or the amout reported to SpamCop to account for this..Anyone else cares to comment?

[turetzsr]

...As Miss Betsy would point out, back in the good old days when she frequented this Forum, one possible explanation for the falloff of new posts is that users are able to find sufficient answers by means of searches of Forum posts and therefore do not need to post themselves.

[Geek]

Since the worst offenders "Do not accept this type of report" and bounce my emails when I try that way, I've been submitting spam IP's through Stop Forum spam and Bot Scout.... we've had such a big impact in such a short period of time, the Xrumer botnet masters want to come to the table to negotiate a "ceasefire"

Cheers!

[Farelf]

Mixture of effects, I would say (low visibility, other spam solutions/changing world) and one has to wonder about the growth of reporter numbers. The numbers probably haven't *dropped* much (individual reporters tend to report less, not more and the stats are fairly steady) but the proportion of spam traps (presumably included in the submission stats) may have increased and those would (in aggregate) reflect any growth in global spam. According to SenderBase there has been a growth trend over the past 18 months but I think that is too short a time base to confirm significant generalised growth. I suspect the spam:ham ratio might have levelled off somewhere in the 90-95% region, it is hard to tell since so many providers silently sweep it under the carpet these days (if a spam falls in the forest and nobody hears it ...).

For whatever reason, the forums are not only less active but also less viewed. That might be a sign of a maturing membership and it certainly doesn't indicate growth. I think last time this question was raised I looked at member growth (there's still enough comment spammers wanting to join ) or it might have been posts, this time I look at "Forum views":

MAIN FORUMS VIEWED

12 months 8 October - 7 October	(2010)	(2009)	(2008)	(2007)	(2006)
SpamCop Reporting Help	64,600	234,347	367,394	493,577	875,985
SpamCop Lounge	46,603	186,642	411,908	704,020	825,330
SpamCop Email System & Accounts	42,251	131,971	380,651	508,424	631,990
SpamCop Blocklist Help	26,637	61,374	141,697	343,443	672,918
Announcements	11,646	37,635	50,744	83,552	198,681
Software Issues	10,135	27,317	85,758	103,671	136,445
Routing / Report Address Issues	9,850	4,659	N/A	N/A	N/A
New Feature Request	9,773	55,178	67,013	162,598	201,107
Mailhost Configuration Reporting A/c	6,091	57,865	82,347	220,849	224,989
Admin Stuff	475	709	1,773	3,070	14,951
FAQ Under Construction	-	3,365	8,021	60,811	254,024

The "FAQ Under Construction" views figure is quite telling although there are several other sources of information (including the Wiki) not shown but their usage does not appear to be great. The new (sub) forum "Routing / Report Address Issues" shows that relevant issues still can be and are addressed through the forums. We are told we are still cherished (kmolloy comment recently) but the love seems to me to be of the tough variety. Restoration of forum visibility from the official SC pages would demonstrate some official support of reporters. As would some work on the official FAQs.

[michaelanglo]

Mixture of effects, I would say (low visibility, other spam solutions/changing world) and one has to wonder about the growth of reporter numbers. The numbers probably haven't *dropped* much (individual reporters tend to report less, not more and the stats are fairly steady)

Just as an amusing tale, my spam reporting may drop a lot.

Because spam received is way down

6 in the last three days instead of my usual (average last month was 75/day).

I suspect TalkTalk has installed a new spam filter for former Tiscali clients.

No obvious missing emails yet.

[Farelf]

...I suspect TalkTalk has installed a new spam filter for former Tiscali clients.

No obvious missing emails yet.

Yeah, providers do that - there should be some verification/advice somewhere on their support pages though - some filters are good (my ISP uses IronPort) but logically could throw the occasional false positive. I have mine turned "off" (some ISPs allow that) just in case but my spam load is very light anyway.

[edit] p.s. sometimes outwards filtering is also applied (also with silent 'dropping'). If you submit spam by email you would quickly realise if it applies. "Why let it in but not let it out?" is often the cry then. I guess the answer is in the heuristic part of the filters getting up to speed in the interval between receipt and forwarding.

[michaelanglo]

Yeah, providers do that - there should be some verification/advice somewhere on their support pages though - some filters are good (my ISP uses IronPort) but logically could throw the occasional false positive. I have mine turned "off" (some ISPs allow that) just in case but my spam load is very light anyway.

Yes, TalkTalk seems to be using IronPort too.

X-IronPort-Anti-spam-Filtered: true

X-IronPort-Anti-spam-Result: AggBANfCskzCgd3hmWdsb2JhbAChOmgBAQIBCAsKBxEiwQyFSASFJw

X-IronPort-AV: E=Sophos;i="4.57,314,1283731200";

d="scan'208";a="114811230"

==

Bit TalkTals's attempt to integrate various legacy boxen seem to have resulted in no off switch and no 'held' folder, suspected spam is just dropped.

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/story/2010/10/1...-customers.html

http://www.talktalk.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=181553

==

Further, the added servers to do the IronPort filtering are on the PBL block list thus rendering PBL quite useless to users of SpamCop Mail.

http://www.senderbase.org/senderbase_queri...g=62.24.139.126

http://www.senderbase.org/senderbase_queri...ng=62.24.139.64

Ah well, still have other e-addies.

[dbiel]

Farelf, thanks for taking the time to post the stats, very telling.

[Lking]

Perhaps related to fewer post here is the "real" drop in spam.

The New York Times article E-Mail spam Falls After Russian Crackdown and closing down SpamIt.com

[Farelf]

Perhaps related to fewer post here is the "real" drop in spam....

One could hope Lou. In the past, the "vacuum" has been fairly much filled within a few months. As the article notes, it's a bit hard for many people to notice such fluctuations these days with the efficiency of the filtering going on. Still, good to see the Russians have finally worked out that spammers don't pay the Government its share of licence fees and taxes. In the continuum of criminal justice, economic crimes trump moral ones every time.

[enigma1]

I think there is lots of email spam that is lost because most mail servers they do not enable catchall. Spammers try to exploit that for sure hoping for bounces.

IMO there should be a section in the forum/main pages for howto and to allow forward of these messages to SC.

[dbiel]

I think there is lots of email spam that is lost because most mail servers they do not enable catchall. Spammers try to exploit that for sure hoping for bounces.

IMO there should be a section in the forum/main pages for howto and to allow forward of these messages to SC.

auto forwarding is not recommended as not all catchall mail is spam

[enigma1]

auto forwarding is not recommended as not all catchall mail is spam

in most cases but by default is deleted so it is never seen. And spammers are using invalid email addresses to check for mail bounce which then become spam platforms.