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story category AOL: 75% Spam Reduction
Complaints down drastically, too
(old news - 12:56PM Monday Dec 27 2004)
tags: stats · spam
According to internal data, AOL claims spam was reduced some seventy-five percent on their network this year, reports CNET. The daily average number of spam e-mails filtered fell some 50 percent; from a peak of 2.4 billion in 2003, to roughly 1.2 billion in late 2004. On average, AOL now receives 2.2 million complaints each day from their 24 million members, down from 11 million complaints per day last year.

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  5. Spam Now Accounts For 95% of All E-mail
  6. Europe Now The King Of Spam
  7. As Expected, Huge Spam Reduction To Be Short Lived
  8. Spam Success: A 1 In 12.5 Million Shot
Forums » AOL: 75% Spam Reduction
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AbBaZaBbA
Premium
join:2002-07-10
Long Beach, CA

statistics

64% of statistics are just made up
neftv

join:2000-10-01
Broomall, PA

Re: statistics

Or I was going to say the AOL membership is down by that much but it would not be true.

cork1958
Cork

join:2000-02-26
Fruitport, MI
·Verizon Online DSL
·Charter Pipeline

Re: statistics

said by neftv See Profile:

Or I was going to say the AOL membership is down by that much but it would not be true.
Was exactly my first thought!
--
Spread Opera, fastest browser on earth!

Bill
Light Up The Halo
Premium,VIP
join:2001-12-09
clubs:
I highly doubt these numbers are correct.

Nerdtalker
Working Hard, Or Hardly Working?
Premium,MVM
join:2003-02-18
Tucson, AZ
clubs:
·Comcast

Re: statistics

said by Bill See Profile:

I highly doubt these numbers are correct.
As do I.

AO-Hell is enough trouble as it is, it'd fit their agenda to make up these statistics to forward their self-proclaimed anti-spam vigilance. Gimme a break.
--
Touch a thistle timidly, and it pricks you; grasp it boldly, and its spines crumble. -William S. Halsey

Kazaa Is Spyware. Gator / Claria Is Spyware.


I'm testing Gmail's spam filters: Broadbandreports1@gmail.com
Spam: 1357

Levelheaded

@aol.com

I have been with America Online for nearly 5 years. I have tried many other services. No service is perfect. They all or subject to their own problems. AOL in recent years has gotten better. I use to recieve 10 or 15 spam messages maybe more. Within the past 2 years, the spam on my AOL Account has diminished down to maybe 2 to 5 messages every once in a while. 9.0 Security Edition is really a great product. I have followed closely with the competition to see how things pan out. AOL is managing well, and I see that the service spread offerings for AOL are getting bigger. They aren't done yet. The reason I continue to pay AOL is four words, Convenience and Community Services. I also like the Radio @ AOL. There are 349 stations and they add more. This is available with my membership and I am receiving AOL for Broadband for 9.95 atop my local high speed provider. So I am very happy. I've met great people on America Online. I've use AOL because its fun, it's full of people and when compared with other services, it is more personal. I can actually customize it to what I want. With other providers you get a start page... with AOL you get your name, or a celebrity talking , customizable backgrounds, and all. I mean, there are times when AOL has it's days, but no provider is perfect. It all boils down to experience, take a second look...

Derch
Premium
join:2004-10-16
Tulsa, OK

BS

"Internal data"...

Ya right.
kpatz
MY HEAD A SPLODE
Premium
join:2003-06-13
Manchester, NH

And what are the casualties?

As in, how much legitimate mail was blocked in order to block "more" spam? I always hear of people on AOL not receiving legit mail from people because their spam filters block it.
--
SMTP: Spam and Malware Transfer Protocol. Also used on rare occasion to transmit e-mail messages.

dadkins
Can you do Blu?
Premium,MVM
join:2003-09-26
Hercules, CA
·Comcast

Re: And what are the casualties?

said by kpatz See Profile:

As in, how much legitimate mail was blocked in order to block "more" spam? I always hear of people on AOL not receiving legit mail from people because their spam filters block it.
Same here! A friend uses AOL, and their "New" spam blocking "tool" was not allowing *ANY* email to be delivered!
Yeah, I guess that would cut down on spam...
--
No Firefox here, move along!

stupidaol

@savvis.ne

Re: And what are the casualties?

Our fortune 500 company gets our domain blocked every few weeks because of this nonsense. Everytime, you have to open a new case with AOL and be added to the whitelist. But the stupid thing is that they don't tell you that you have been removed from the whitelist and put in their spam list so the process begins again. This is just nonsense. My company is a 2 Billion dollar company and we get put on their spam list so that someone can't send emails to their buddies and they complain.

Doctor Four
My other vehicle is a TARDIS
Premium
join:2000-09-05
Dallas, TX
·AT&T U-Verse
·RoadRunner Cable
·AT&T Yahoo


2 edits

Re: And what are the casualties?

There's a good reason why AOL is blocking savvis.net. They
are hosting quite a few notorious spammers.

Time to find another domain host. Or if you are representing
savvis.net, then you need to stop hosting spammers. Take a
look at the SBL - your provider has 41 entries, including
Scott Richter's company, OptInRealBig. Here's what they
have to say:

said by Spamhaus.org:
"Found 41 SBL listings for IPs under the responsibility of savvis.net"
14 of those are ROKSO entries. That is a serious sign of
trouble. Need more evidence? Google Groups for NANAS and
savvis.net:

»groups-beta.google.com/group/new···is+group

And there's this from one of our Stopping Spam forum
regulars back in October, who says that savvis.net seems
to be signing up new ROKSO spammers:

»Savvis.net spamhaus to nuke spammers

--
"Kayura or Badamon, whichever you are, you should know that I will never give up this battle. By the will of the Ancient, I shall succeed!" - Shuten (Anubis) from the Ronin Warriors.

Trakker
Danger
Premium
join:2003-01-12
ß
Savvis= spammer central...find a new host.
--
»www.cqbarms.com

LordMalak

join:2003-07-02
Brazil
Sounds like you ARE a crybaby spammer yourself. You use Savvis, you keep getting blacklisted, and you posted anonymously.

Eat spam and die.
bren9474

join:2004-09-28
Pearl River, NY
Having millions of e mail addresses stolen is a great way to reduce spam! It's only a matter of time before employees of other ISP's do the same, to reduce spam of course!

Jafo232
You Can't Spell Democrat Without Rat.
Premium
join:2002-10-17
Boonville, NY
·RoadRunner Cable

Well as one who has an AOL account I can testify that SPAM has indeed gone down, and I get about one false positive in my SPAM box every six months or so.

Their blacklisting methods are a bit rough. I have a mailing list on one of my sites that users sign up to that sends no spam or advertisements or anything else, just site news, and someone labelled one of the messages as SPAM and they blacklisted the entire server. Mind you the list has been around for about 5 years (users subscribing and unsubscribing) and is still less than 10,000 users. Mail is sent to the list once a week and it still got hit by AOL. Even if it was SPAM, that type of blacklisting is a bit extreme I would think.

Anyway, SPAM still does get through, but if I had to guess on a percentage, I would say about 20% of my email is SPAM, where it used to be closer to 50-60%.

If users are getting all mail blocked, chances are they checked the box to "Block all except these addresses" option, or have altered another setting to muck it up.

Compared to my Optimuum Online email account, AOL definitely does a better job.
--
Register Your Gaming Clan at Clan-Council.com

Defcon888
Premium
join:2003-07-22
San Bruno, CA
·AT&T Yahoo
·DSL EXTREME

LOL !

On average, AOL now receives 2.2 million complaints each day from their 24 million members, down from 11 million complaints per day last year.
LOL! That's STILL sad!
--
Defcon888(at)Gmail.com
I Love Microsoft Internet Explorer! A Browser With Advanced Settings, Options, and Choice

DaSneaky1D
one wall to block them all
Premium,MVM
join:2001-03-29
The Lou

Re: LOL !

Just keep in mind how many of those "complaints" are people voicing how their service is "suppose" to work. Likely a lot of "iD10t user errors".
--
] :: my trivial ramblings :: [
bogey780

join:2004-03-19
Here
now instead of every customer complaining every other day they complain every other week.

orion940
Paralyzed By Confusion
Premium
join:2001-12-23
Windsor, CT
·AT&T Yahoo

AOL

How many gave up complaining? LOL..

AOL does have its uses, I do use it for somethings, but any "mission critial" mail is not a use for AOL by anyone.

And according to my internal data, the government owes me $1000.

O.

Vamp
5c077
Premium
join:2003-01-28
MD
·Verizon FIOS

how they get this data...

When users login they get a popup, this popup says "Do you think junk email has been reduced?" , their options.. "Yes", "no", No is grayed out, user must click yes.


Transmaster
Don't Blame Me I Voted For Bill and Opus

join:2001-06-20
Cheyenne, WY

As far as I am concerned

AOL is spam:(

Defcon888
Premium
join:2003-07-22
San Bruno, CA

Re: As far as I am concerned

With their stinking AOL cds. But... the DVD cases that come with it ARE useful

antwanp
ObamaBiden 2008 I voted, did you?
Premium
join:2002-05-14
Cedar Hill, TX
clubs:
·RoadRunner Cable

Re: As far as I am concerned

said by Defcon888 See Profile:

With their stinking AOL CDs. But... the DVD cases that come with it ARE useful
I like those DVD cases. Those are the only good thing from AOL CD's. You're right, they are very useful for Playstation 2 games and such that I've damaged in my dorm room...

-Antwan L.
--
Bawls, the official drink of Lan Parties, Paintball Matches, and anything else that requires extreme energy! »www.bawls.com

paulhaskew
Unoffical Dominos Spokesman

join:2002-01-10
Vancouver, WA
clubs:

blah

they block to quickly...

One e-mail came back as a complaint due to a mistyped e-mail address, so they blocked the whole damn server... AHHH

nklb
Premium
join:2000-11-17
Ann Arbor, MI
clubs:

Something doesnt add up...

said by article:
On average, AOL now receives 2.2 million complaints each day from their 24 million members, down from 11 million complaints per day last year.
So they are saying that last year just about half of their members took time every single day to complain?

and this year about 10% do?

Something just doesnt add up...
--
for all your Linux questions

ShootToThril
Tell The Truth
Premium
join:2004-06-07
Sherman Oaks, CA
clubs:

Re: Something doesnt add up...

More than half the members left AOL for a better future.

antiphishing
Phishing Scam Terminator
Premium
join:2004-06-09
Wilkes Barre, PA


1 edit

Spam was way down over the Xmas weekend !

AOL users are getting a seven five percent reduction in spam because most of their customers are leaving for good. This means that spammers don't have as many legimate AOL accounts to send their junk email to.

»AOL Users Report 75 Percent Less Spam


»www.antihotmail.com
Dslreports.com Profile: »profile.antihotmail.com
spammers_are_scumbags@antihotmail.com
Meeble

join:2002-09-19
Champaign, IL

yeah bu they lack to mention those caught in the

given that half the people on their blacklist are on there unfairly or because tey reside under other hosting isps etc I don't know exactly what they are proud of.

Three of my domains have been blacklisted to aol and my provider has promised me they have no spammers (and tey only have like 3 dozen acct holders but still i have to take his word unless i can prove otherwise). That bein said everyone I needed to mail on aol I pointed ou that I can no longer email them and unless they switch to someone else or use a free mail , thats that because after multipl attempts to get off thi blacklist I was basically told no as was my domain host.

I also know a company who uses a completely different host who has had the same problem. Long story short, a good boatload o their employees and participants have cancelled AOL because they could no longer receive the weekly 'newsletter' which was neccessary for them to do their job.

yeah AOL be proud of your accomplishment..... let's reduce usability, customer satisfaction, and productivity and then tout it as a feature enhancement

Jafo232
You Can't Spell Democrat Without Rat.
Premium
join:2002-10-17
Boonville, NY
·RoadRunner Cable

Re: yeah bu they lack to mention those caught in t

I basically just do not allow people on AOL to join my mailing list. This also cuts certain benefits to these users if they cannot sign up using a different email address. I had to put my foot down because I was tired of my own mail server getting blocked from AOL because some moron kept hitting the "This is SPAM" button when they received our newsletter.

AOL would not identify the person, so I had no choice but eliminate them all. When a user complains to me, I just point them to a page that has my communication with AOL logged.

It is a hard nosed policy, that is for sure, but in the end, it will have to be their user base who fixes it.
--
Register Your Gaming Clan at Clan-Council.com

drkkgt
Boo
Premium
join:2003-08-26
Whittier, CA

Stats are fun

And how many of those users gave up complaining since they didn't do jack all last year when the 11 million a day were complaining?
glyons

join:2004-10-09
Colombia

is it september?

Me too!!!!1111!!!!one one one one!!!!
Packerman

join:2004-04-15

Not so bad

Im sorry but i rarely ever see spam in my aol email. I use 3 other email services 2 and aol is really doing good at stopping spam. they might have alot of spyware with their browser software but I have really never had that many issues with their email portion. I still use the email because i have been using aol email for 5 years and alot of people contact me through it. I use sprint as a main and a couple others for stuff i know i am gonna get spam for. But aol has done much better in the last year or so on getting rid of spam.

ghostpainter
I Write for the Apocalypse
Premium,MVM
join:2002-05-25
Rancho Cucamonga, CA
clubs:

Re: Not so bad

So where do I go to complain about AOL blocking my family pic's to family members who happen to be unfortunate enough to have AOL.

Or better yet, AOL has ID me as a spammer...I have never spammed in my life, I send out a news letter once a month to the park residents, now all of those resident who use AOL are blocked...They have sent me emails expecting to answer but I can not because AOL blocks me. What kind of bull is that...I can't even communicate with my own family...
--
We fold for cures. My Web site Earth Log II »earthlogii.blogspot.com/

22million

@comcast.net

....

2.2 million complaints a day? Thats ... 803.532838 million complaints a year. Insane!

0100010001010011010011000101001001100101011100000110111101110010011101000111001100 1000000110 1001011100110010000001001100011000010110110101100101001000000100111001101111011101 11
Cable Fiend

join:2003-04-25
Dover Plains, NY

Re: ....

I think they added a complaint filter...

Problem solved stats correct

drkkgt
Boo
Premium
join:2003-08-26
Whittier, CA

1 edit

Re: ....

Complaints = Spam

Nice, so they added a spam filter onto the AOL corporate offices and suddenly they don't get any spam, like those pesky complaint emails???

JDawgers

@attbi.com

Re: ....

AOL spokesman Nicholas Graham attributed the drop largely to spammers' moving on after realizing that many of their messages won't get through AOL's anti-spam filters or that they might be sued for trying.

AOL Scks

@charter.com

Not them

It's not the AOL filters. It's all the ISP's blocking AOL traffic from the zombies. It's great how AOL takes all the credit though

deny tcp any 205.188.0.0 0.0.255.255 eq smtp log
deny tcp any 64.12.0.0 0.0.255.255 eq smtp log
deny tcp any 152.163.0.0 0.0.255.255 eq smtp log

Keeps my customers under control.
dannysdailys

join:2000-09-29
Lockport, NY

AOL is not lying:

In my recent review of AOL 9 SE, »www.dannysdailys.com/tips/dan45.html

I mention the huge drop in total spam I've been getting.

I just thought AOL was getting better at it. I didn't know the entire spam rate had dropped.

Maybe the people now sitting in jail, has made the rest thing twice before trying to spam AOL.

Whatever, my total spam count is so low now, it's not even an annoyance.
--
Madness Takes Its Toll, Please Have Exact ChangeDan DailyOwner/Webmasterhttp://www.dannysdailys.com
Forums » AOL: 75% Spam Reduction


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