Junk controls don't seem to learn. After over a year, my Adaptive Junk Mail Log is completely empty.
I've been using Thunderbird for over a year now. I check my junk mail ... frequently enough to make sure there isn't anything in there that shouldn't be. Every once in awhile there is. I tag it as "Not Junk" and it goes to my inbox.
I currently have two problems. 1. Once I mark a specific message as "Not Junk," I expect that it would stay marked as "Not Junk." This is not the case. When I reopen Thunderbird, or if I go into a different folder and return to my Inbox, that same message is repeatedly marked as Junk (with the fancy flame) no matter how many times I "Not Junk" it. Note: It doesn't get moved to the Junk folder after the initial time.
2. I have a sender who I've received multiple emails from, and EVERY time he sends an email it ends up in the Junk folder. I've (obviously) repeatedly marked his messages as "Not Junk." I checked my "Adaptive Junk Mail Log" and it is empty. I tried clearing the log, turning adaptive learning off and back on, and a few other suggestions from forums. No luck. My biggest head-scratcher is why the adaptive filter is still blank after a year's usage. It's clearly not learning. My biggest concern is that I'm going to end up missing an email because it's not learning. I do have this sender listed as an actual contact (not 'collected contacts'); I've also got the option checked to not flag Address Book contacts as junk.
I'm using the most recent version of Thunderbird 45.4.0, running Windows 7 Pro x64.
Thank you for any help you can give.
Wšě wotmołwy (6)
The log merely records the operation of the Junk filtering. It doesn't play any part in deciding what is and isn't Junk.
Have you actually enabled logging?
The Junk Controls don't pay any attention to who sent the message because with junk mail the sender address is invariably spoofed.
Is this sender in your address book? In theory, this should prevent his messages from being classified as Junk - at least, if it is Thunderbird doing the classification.
My experience is that some servers also classify suspicious messages as Junk and it may be filtering at your email provider that is putting messages in Junk. Many times I have seen a situation where I mark a message as Not Junk, move it to the Inbox and seconds later it moves back to the Junk folder. If I move the affected message to another account, or Local Folders, it stops jumping around. This suggests to me that having moved the message, it is now out of reach of the one particular server (outlook/office365 in my case) doing the mis-classification.
Yes. This person is in my personal address book. The setting "Do not automatically mark as Junk if this sender is [x] In my Personal Address Book is checked.
[X] Enable Active Junk Filtering is checked.
Quote: "My experience is that some servers also classify suspicious messages as Junk and it may be filtering at your email provider that is putting messages in Junk. " Are you suggesting *MY* server is classifying this as junk or is Thunderbird classifying it as junk? When my server thinks something is junk it adds ***SPAM*** or something similar to the header. My server isn't doing that with these emails.
If that log doesn't indicate what it has learned, what *IS* it doing? Thunderbird is marking things as junk, but it's also not logging there that it has marked it as junk. It has remained empty for a year now.
Any other thoughts?
I wish I could video this. It's like playing whack-a-mole. I mark something as Not Junk and by the time I click the 3rd item, the first one has marked itself as junk again.
Back in Windows 95, I had a program - can't remember what it was - that you could see the adaptive learning rules "395 subjects containing "Viagra" have been marked as junk. 1 email subject containing "Viagra" has been marked as Not Junk - or similar. After running through a thousand emails or so, it was brilliant and rarely missed. If you accidentally mis-marked something, you could go in and delete that "teaching." I imagined that's what the box labeled "log of adaptive junk mail activity" did. If it's not, is there a place I can access that information?
Try the Junquilla add-on. I'm not too confident it is what you describe having used previously, but it does expose some of the workings of the Junk Controls.
Please try moving these messages to a different folder. Another idea; take Thunderbird offline before rescuing misclassified messages. If they stay put, this supports my theory that a server is responsible.
Yes, some anti-spam products operate by adding a comment to the subject line. But this is overt and usually we can find who did it. And I bet these messages don't play the whack-a-mole game with you.
Ok. I took it offline and marked the messages as Not Junk. Closed Thunderbird, opened it, Ran Junk Control Filters, closed it, opened it. They stayed unmarked (properly not flagged as junk). Brought back online, clicked Get Mail, and they were immediately marked as junk.
When you say server, are you referring to my ISP?
I moved the emails to another folder, but it didn't make a difference. Even after being marked as not junk, they very quickly were tagged as Junk again. This really doesn't make sense. It seems the junk filter simply can not be taught.
"Server" means your email provider - whoever it is that operates your incoming email service. You haven't mentioned who they are yet.
When you say you moved it to another folder, was this another folder in the same account, or, ideally, Local Folders?
Have a look at this thread. There's a better explanation than I can come up with.
https://groups.google.com/forum/m/#!topic/mozilla.support.thunderbird/KZjCs2EEYTA