SpamFolder

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  • Google adds spam explanation to Gmail, steers clear of enlightenment

    by 
    Zach Honig
    Zach Honig
    03.20.2012

    Why is this message in spam? It's a question we find ourselves asking our Gmail boxes almost daily, when messages that really should have made it through to the inbox end up in electronic purgatory instead. So why does Google's algorithm choose to filter certain legitimate messages, while letting the vast majority arrive unscathed? The answer can now be found atop each message filed as spam, presented with the simplest of explanations, that generally fails to provide any actual insight as to the email's assigned delivery. Such worthless gems as "It's similar to messages that were detected by our spam filters," "It contains content that's typically used in spam messages" or "Many people marked similar messages as spam" now await you above each note -- seemingly assigned just as casually as the emails themselves.

  • Google Voice adds spam filter, lets solicitors get caught in the web

    by 
    Zach Honig
    Zach Honig
    07.12.2011

    Remember when your legitimate emails were flanked by dozens of grammatically nightmarish blurbs, peddling pills, x-rated services, and Nigerian scams? If you use Gmail, most of that garbage no longer arrives in your inbox, instead making its way to a spam folder, where it's held for a month before ending its journey at the Google graveyard. Now, Mountain View is applying that same concept to your Google Voice calls, flagging unsolicited calls, texts, and voicemails, then booting them to a spam folder. The company's servers use collected data from other users marking similar messages as spam, as well as propriety identification tools, to help ensure that those generic creditor or vacation sweepstakes calls never make it to your phone. And like GMail messages, misdirected calls can be marked as "Not Spam" from within the Spam folder, letting them slip through the fence the next time around. GV users can simply check the box next to "Global Spam filtering" on the Calls tab to activate the feature, or hit up the source link for the full scoop.