Controlling Spam
We never permit sending unsolicited bulk commercial email (spam) from a WELL account, nor do we sell, rent or divulge customer email addresses for any external purpose. We don’t place or display ads on your email. We do scan all incoming mail for viruses and malware.
1. How does The WELL control spam?
4. Why does The WELL put spam in the Junk folder instead of deleting it?
5. I forward my WELL mail elsewhere. Will spam be removed first?
Answers
1. How does the WELL control spam?
The WELL does not permit sending unsolicited bulk commercial email or spam from a WELL account, nor do we sell, rent or otherwise divulge customer email addresses for any external purpose.
The WELL continually adds enhancements to our spam filtering system for all incoming WELL email. The filter assigns scores in three tiers: obvious spam (e.g. Nigerian Prince), possible spam (e.g. re-finance your mortgage), and likely not spam (email from your Mom). Obvious spam gets deleted, possible spam gets marked, and likely not spam is delivered normally.
2. How is spam marked?
Possible Spam is marked in several ways:
(a) the word SPAM is inserted into the Subject line of an email, as {SPAM} or :::SPAM::: or both. Recent examples:
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- {Spam} This Day 0nly – Claim A Steak SampIer From 0maha-Steak’s
- :::SPAM:::Leaked Report: The end of dementia
- :::SPAM:::{Spam} For AAA Licensed Drivers Courtesy Road Kit
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(b) The filter looks for suspicious URLS embedded in emails and flags potentially hazardous ones, inserting a warning phrase in the body of the email. There are two possible warnings:
i) If the address doesn’t match the sending domain, but is otherwise not too suspicious:
Caution: This link goes to: [suspicious URL]
claiming to be: [suspicious URL]
ii) If the address goes to a possibly dangerous site:
Alert: likely fraud detected in the website at: [suspicious URL]
Stop, Think, and Verify that this is a legitimate link!
Do not trust this website: [suspicious URL]
3. What steps can I take?
a) For people using webmail via iris.well.com:
Marking email as SPAM or Not Spam helps teach the mail program to identify spam
- For any email in your Inbox that IS spam (whether marked or not), right-click and select ‘mark as spam’.
- For any email marked Spam that is NOT spam, whether in Junk folder or Inbox (i.e. false positive), right-click and select ‘Mark as Not Spam’.
b) You may wish to Whitelist specific senders so their mail is never filtered, or Blacklist specific senders so their mail is always marked as spam.
- To do this in the Zimbra web interface, select ‘Preferences’ in the top center Menu toolbar,
- then select ‘Mail‘ (the closed envelope icon) on the left side column,
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- Put your cursor in the center panel on the page and scroll until you get to ‘Spam Mail Options’, and put the addresses into “Block messages from” or “Allow Messages From.“
- Make sure to select the ‘Save‘ menu item in the upper left of the screen to Save your preference.
c) For all other users: (those who use another email program, or who forward to another provider e.g. Gmail, Yahoo, Sonic etc.)
- You may wish to log in to the Zimbra webmail interface at https://iris.well.com to help train our spam filter or whitelist/blacklist senders, see above. You may also use your email program’s settings to apply spam filters.
- If you receive a spam message that you think the WELL should be aware of, especially a “phishing” email that pretends to be from the WELL, please forward it to helpdesk@well.com
d) WELL users have access to additional controls on the inbound spam filter, which ‘power users’ may wish to explore. Please see the instructions at #6 below.
4. Why does The WELL put spam in the Junk folder instead of deleting it?
A great deal of spam is deleted before it arrives in a customer’s email account. Likely spam and potential spam is put in the Junk folder as a way to separate it from clearly legitimate email. However, some legitimate mail may be tagged as spam, and some spam is likely to slide through untagged because it is written to look more like regular email. We recommend regular inspection of the Junk folder before you delete its contents, and to follow the steps in #3, above.
5. I am reading my WELL mail elsewhere. Will I see my spam?
a). I forward my WELL mail to another site. Will spam be removed first?
Yes, if you are forwarding your email, messages in your Junk (spam) folder will not be forwarded. We recommend going to iris.well.com and checking from time to time. If you have your mail set to delete after forwarding, your Junk folder will be empty. You may change this setting by going to iris.well.com and under Preferences/Mail/Receiving Messages, under the “Forward a copy” box, uncheck “Don’t keep a local copy of messages.“ Make sure to select ‘Save’ to Save your preference.
Caution: if you elect to keep a local copy, pay attention to your email quota. (and beware of Phishing emails that pretend to be about your email quota!). It is best to log into iris.well.com and look at the quota bar at the very upper right of the screen. See below for reference:
If you hover your mouse over the colored horizontal bar, you will see a pop-up with data about storage used and available. See below.
b) I retrieve my email using POP. Will spam be removed first?
Yes, if you’re using POP you may not see the contents of your Junk folder by default. You may change this setting by going to iris.well.com and under Preferences/ Access from Other Mail Clients check the box “Incoming Junk Messages: Include Junk Folder Messages.” Make sure to select ‘Save’ to Save your preference.
c) I retrieve my email using IMAP. Will spam be removed first?
Yes, if you are using IMAP you may or may not see the the contents of your Junk folder by default. How you control what you see depends on which mail client you are using. Please check the documentation for your mail program to see how to select which folders are synchronized.
6. Advanced user options
There are some additional options for advanced users. None are required. More information is available in the Well Conferencing System. ‘Complete’ accounts may access the conferences by logging in at <https://user.well.com/html/engaged/login.html> with your regular WELL Userid and password. Then visit the <spam.> conference, Topics 73 and 74. Technical information for advanced users is also available on the WELL Wiki at Well Email and Spam Filtering.