Scrubbit Version 1
SPAM Filtering for your mailbox

LIMITATIONS


Scrubbit makes a best-effort to solve the SPAM problem. However, it's currently only about 85% effective at solving the entire problem. We are continuously working on ways to outsmart the spammers.

Meanwhile, here are some of the problems that are germane to email spam filtration:

  • False Positives - some messages are actually not SPAM, but are rejected because they don't look quite right. In this case, you might not receive a message from someone who has not been identified as a "friend" because of something in their message. This problem can be avoided by making sure that addresses from friends are contained in your "friends" list.

  • Undetected SPAM - the Spammers are always trying some new trick to get through. For example, they were using the word V!AGRA instead of VIAGRA. In this case, the message can pass the bad words test. Consequently, we re updating our "bad words" list all the time to keep up with their tricks. (Yes, "V!AGRA" is now a bad word.)
Version 1 of Scrubbit does not filter out messages that do not contain any valid text. Consequently, some SPAM still makes it through the filter because there are no words in the message - only an offensive picture! In this case, you can still receive a really offensive message that is just a picture. (This is being addressed in Version 2.)

Likewise, some messages contain mis-spelled offensive words, and thereby pass the test. We're adding the mis-spelled versions of the offensive words.