Tutor
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3 Messages
Weaker spam filters in att.net/Yahoo mail suddenly?
It seems that starting a few days ago, the spam filters that used to capture and properly file spam messages in my (very old!) att.net/Yahoo mail account suddenly became porous and now it is all sliding through to my inbox. Anyone else with the same problem, or suggestions?
Thanks!
Accepted Solution
Official Solution
_xyzzy_
Expert
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15K Messages
6 years ago
In the webmail click the gear (upper right) -> settings -> filters
If all you use is the webmail and never previously created any filters of your own then of course stuff not considered as spam would end up in your inbox. I thought you had created filters to explicitly check for certain stuff that wasn't already classed as spam by the att/yahoo spam filters to force it into the spam box. The spam filters are not static and for some stuff you need to train them (or retrain them) on what is and is not spam. In your case if stuff is getting into your inbox that you consider as spam then you will need to flag it as spam. Eventually and hopefully the spam filters will get retrained so that stuff is maybe treated as spam. It could take a while. It's either that or you do create explicit filters for that stuff if it is at all possible with what's provided in the yahoo spam filtering options.
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_xyzzy_
Expert
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15K Messages
6 years ago
What are you using for email, the webmail or an email client app? Where ever they are recheck those filters. As far as I know the user defined webmail filters (as limited as they are) should still be working (unless the yahoo spam filters filter stuff into the spam box first). The fact that the stuff is ending up in your inbox means the att/yahoo predefined spam filters aren't filtering them so your filters should work if defined properly. I have to assume that whatever you are checking with your spam filters no longer matches?
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kayjay611
Tutor
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3 Messages
6 years ago
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psd7034
Teacher
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11 Messages
6 years ago
I also have never created personal spam filters, but only suddenly started getting a ton of spam in my inbox. So something changed at AT&T. I DO always mark these as spam (not just delete them), but they still show up, so the spam filters are obviously not being retrained.
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_xyzzy_
Expert
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15K Messages
6 years ago
It could take some time since the spam filters work in part statistically. Or as I suggest above, create your own filters if you can. The yahoo user defined filter support is relatively weak so you need to look for some common strings in those spam emails you can match on with what is provided.
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LongTimeSBC
Contributor
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1 Message
5 years ago
You are right kj. I see no solution at all offered here. Cumulatively I spend hours flagging, blocking and deleting spam now going to my inbox. Was never like that before, until a month ago.
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mggordon
Teacher
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25 Messages
5 years ago
I also have started experiencing this as of three weeks ago. Where the SPAM filter was nearly 100% accurate and caught 10 to 20 messages a day on average, today it's segregating 1 or 2 and sending them on to my Inbox, so something has definitely changed. Is AT&T even aware of this?
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Clemsonmom
Contributor
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2 Messages
5 years ago
Same exact thing with me. I noticed a few months ago and it’s getting worse. It started with a few spams creeping into my inbox per week, now it’s about 5 per day. I mark each offender as spam but some of them keep coming back. I don’t have the time or patience to manually add the sender email addresses to my Yahoo filter, nor should I have to. It definitely seems like something happened to the default server filters.
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psd7034
Teacher
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11 Messages
5 years ago
This has really become a problem, and I don't care what "Expert-Ace" says, spam never was a problem for me until just about 3 months ago, and so obviously something changed at ATT/Yahoo. Unbelievable how much spam ends up in my inbox - which I ALWAYS mark as spam, but it doesn't seem to do any good.
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_xyzzy_
Expert
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15K Messages
5 years ago
If all of you think past performance of the spam filters is an indication of future performance you are all naive for believing that. The spam filters are not static and they try to adapt over time based on human input, what users flag as spam, and possibly data bases of spammers. But just like the spam filters aren't static neither are the spammers. They adapt too, always looking for ways to get around the email service provider's spam filters. So while you may have been lucky in the past I guess your luck just ran out.
You can complain all you want. But it is what it is. As I always end up in discussions like this I say, if you don't like it find another email service provider (ESP) that gives you adequate tools to fight the spam you do get. They do exist. But wherever you go no ESP has spam filters that are 100% accurate. And I don't care what excuse you give for saying "I can't switch, I'm locked in". That's not my problem.
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