FAQ Entry: Causes of "Would send" and "If reported

[Jeff G.]

As Larry would write:

Known causes of the "Would send" and "If reported today,

reports would be sent to:" behaviors include:

1. Parsing a message you are parsing the same message in

another window, or shortly thereafter. For instance,

when using the cut and paste interface, a network

connection problem while the spam is being processed

will produce this problem. Another way this can

happen is if one follows the "Report Now" link on

one's personal SpamCop page and later follows the

link sent in the mail response sent by SpamCop.

Finish the reporting one way or the other, but not

both.

2. Not parsing a message until several hours after you

forwarded it to SpamCop.

3. Forwarded spam consisting of just headers and

no body text (No body provided, check format of

submission). To report, add some text like

"No body included." before forwarding. A slight

variation on this theme is mistakenly removing

the blank line that separates the headers from

the body. There has been at least one report

that the commercial product "SpamKiller" from

McAfee will eliminate that blank line if you view

the details of a piece of spam and copy/paste from

there. Ensure there is such a blank line when

forwarding to SpamCop (or pasting).

4. When using the cut and paste interface, a network

connection problem while the spam is being processed

will produce this problem. The cure is to back up to

the submitting page, verify the information is pasted

correctly, and try again.

5. Some bug of an unspecified nature. If you can reproduce it,

we would all like to know. (Some people have found that

trying again with the same piece of spam does not encounter

the problem again.)

Note that the display from SpamCop Tracking URLs will _always_ say

"Would send...", so it is important for the person encountering the

problem to know whether the "Would send..." occurred on the first viewing,

not just after the fact.

[JeffG added "(No body provided, check format of

submission)" 2004/03/23]

[JeffG added "and "If reported today,

reports would be sent to:" behaviors" 2004/03/29]