5 ms·

It's interesting that this is the top comment, I'm assuming it's because Gmail users like myself just don't see spam anymore - Google's spam filters are so good

It's interesting that this is the top comment, I'm assuming it's because Gmail users like myself just don't see spam anymore - Google's spam filters are so good that I don't even think about it anymore.

arm 10y ago
It’s the top comment right now because it was only posted 5 minutes ago.
0xmohit 10y ago
Yes, but Google spam filters are too aggressive. It is worthwhile adding that once in a while I keep running into a message lying in Spam that ought to have been in Inbox.
- Diederich 10y ago
  Yup, though for me, I've only seen this happen with two different work google apps/gmail accounts, not my personal account. In one case, it caused a bit of a problem!
- rdtsc 10y ago
  Yap, I noticed a few valid messages there recently. Marked them as "Not Spam" but it was a bit worrying.
- josephb 10y ago
  Due to a recent bad experience of email being mis-categorised, I've taken to checking the gmail spam folder again several times a week, just to be sure :-\
patates 10y ago
I still think about it when it (albeit VERY rarely) marks legitimate emails as spam.
swah 10y ago
The spam folder is the only place I can find email personally addressed to me these days. (Always from that nigerian royal member, unfortunatelly...)
wcunning 10y ago
GMail once ate (bypassed spam and instantly deleted it, silently) an email filled with travel itinerary for an interview, causing me to miss the flight booked for me and the company I was interviewing with to have to book a second one (~$1k). If you find this hard to believe, go check your spam folder and see how many emails you have. Do you think you're really only getting ~1 spam message a day? This is the dark side of Google's spam filtering.
- robbiemitchell 10y ago
  Instantly deleted it? That doesn't sound right for the spam folder.
  - ClashTheBunny 10y ago
    There is a threshold for spammyness that will cause email to be dropped silently and never reach the spam folder.
    - robbiemitchell 10y ago
      I'm skeptical this is true. Is there any documentation or other evidence for this?
      - devopsproject 10y ago
        https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/Apps/l-TmEzzFme4 https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/Apps/l-TmEzzF...
        robbiemitchell 10y ago
        I read that forum rant and the linked content, and there is still no evidence that Gmail is deleting emails immediately by default. I read two possible causes: - Content Compliance setting (managed by admin) that can prevent emails from reaching inbox - Some other service, such as Exchange, which can somehow interfere with Gmail? Specifically, the article mentions a "quarantine" folder that is not part of Gmail. Or am I missing something?
jeffmould 10y ago
Actually I have a huge issue with Gmail spam filters being over aggressive. Replies to my own emails often find their way to my spam box. I check the spam folder daily and notice at least 5-10 emails that are not spam getting sucked in. Even if I mark them Not Spam, the next day an email from the same address will end up right back there.
- scholia 10y ago
  I have the same problem. At one time, more than half the Gmail spambox was legitimate email, so I had to check it every day. (It was so bad, I kept screen grabs as evidence.) This year, things got much better for a few months, and now they are getting worse again....
  - jeffmould 10y ago
    The middle of last year is when it started for me. It only affects my personal Gmail account, though. My Google for Business account seems to work fine, and I get a lot more mail there. I can't imagine they use two different filters, but it seems to almost be the case. Either that or there is a bug in one platform with the Not Spam button not working properly.
  - jrnichols 10y ago
    I definitely had this problem. I moved from a metal server to a VPS which had a different IP address, and it's taken probably 3 months to finally have a decent enough email reputation so that Gmail isn't automatically dumping email into spam. And you have to drill down to even get to that Spam folder too. It was at the point where I really couldn't effectively communicate with anyone on gmail because of that. The answer I kept getting was "Well, why don't you just use Gmail instead of your own email stuff?" It's kind of scary to me sometimes just how well Google has managed to get people to equate email with Gmail.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- RachelF 10y ago
  I have the same problem. A few emails a week get classified as spam by gmail, when they should not. I guess many users don't complain about it as they never look in their gmail spam folders and see emails that they should have received.
doh 10y ago
Gmail's anti-spam filters have the opposite problem, putting a ton of legit emails into the spam folder. The other day I had to sign a NDA from Google and it ended up in the spam folder. We were on the phone for over 20 minutes just waiting for the NDA to come, until I decided to check the spam folder and sure enough, there it was. The spam filter is in my opinion too dumb for this age. Once you mark one email from one domain as a spam, every single email from that domain ends up in the spam folder also. For instance I don't want to see stupid Comcast commercial offerings but I need to receive my invoice every month. Unsubscribe works sometimes, but not all the time.
- chmars 10y ago
  I use many filters to deal with legitimate incoming mail – and I usually set the 'Never send it to Spam' tag. That has helped a lot!
- syntheticnature 10y ago
  I, too, have run into this. One email setup was moved to Google Apps, and it flagged JIRA email as spam. Once that was fixed, I figured I was good, but more recently it flagged a document share request... from Google Docs... originating from within the same organization (i.e. same Google Apps account). Left hand, meet right hand.
chmars 10y ago
It pays to check for false positives from time to time. Other than that, Gmail's spam filter is really impressive, especially given that I have catch-all enabled (via Google Apps).
dboreham 10y ago
The challenge with spam filtering isn't in stopping all spam, but rather with nother filtering that one random email that turns out to lead to a life-changing opportunity..

arm 10y ago

It’s the top comment right now because it was only posted 5 minutes ago.

0xmohit 10y ago

Yes, but Google spam filters are too aggressive. It is worthwhile adding that once in a while I keep running into a message lying in Spam that ought to have been in Inbox.

Diederich 10y ago
Yup, though for me, I've only seen this happen with two different work google apps/gmail accounts, not my personal account. In one case, it caused a bit of a problem!
rdtsc 10y ago
Yap, I noticed a few valid messages there recently. Marked them as "Not Spam" but it was a bit worrying.
josephb 10y ago
Due to a recent bad experience of email being mis-categorised, I've taken to checking the gmail spam folder again several times a week, just to be sure :-\

patates 10y ago

I still think about it when it (albeit VERY rarely) marks legitimate emails as spam.

swah 10y ago

The spam folder is the only place I can find email personally addressed to me these days. (Always from that nigerian royal member, unfortunatelly...)

wcunning 10y ago

GMail once ate (bypassed spam and instantly deleted it, silently) an email filled with travel itinerary for an interview, causing me to miss the flight booked for me and the company I was interviewing with to have to book a second one (~$1k). If you find this hard to believe, go check your spam folder and see how many emails you have. Do you think you're really only getting ~1 spam message a day? This is the dark side of Google's spam filtering.

robbiemitchell 10y ago
Instantly deleted it? That doesn't sound right for the spam folder.
- ClashTheBunny 10y ago
  There is a threshold for spammyness that will cause email to be dropped silently and never reach the spam folder.
  - robbiemitchell 10y ago
    I'm skeptical this is true. Is there any documentation or other evidence for this?
    - devopsproject 10y ago
      https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/Apps/l-TmEzzFme4 https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/Apps/l-TmEzzF...
      - robbiemitchell 10y ago
        I read that forum rant and the linked content, and there is still no evidence that Gmail is deleting emails immediately by default. I read two possible causes: - Content Compliance setting (managed by admin) that can prevent emails from reaching inbox - Some other service, such as Exchange, which can somehow interfere with Gmail? Specifically, the article mentions a "quarantine" folder that is not part of Gmail. Or am I missing something?

jeffmould 10y ago

Actually I have a huge issue with Gmail spam filters being over aggressive. Replies to my own emails often find their way to my spam box. I check the spam folder daily and notice at least 5-10 emails that are not spam getting sucked in. Even if I mark them Not Spam, the next day an email from the same address will end up right back there.

scholia 10y ago
I have the same problem. At one time, more than half the Gmail spambox was legitimate email, so I had to check it every day. (It was so bad, I kept screen grabs as evidence.) This year, things got much better for a few months, and now they are getting worse again....
- jeffmould 10y ago
  The middle of last year is when it started for me. It only affects my personal Gmail account, though. My Google for Business account seems to work fine, and I get a lot more mail there. I can't imagine they use two different filters, but it seems to almost be the case. Either that or there is a bug in one platform with the Not Spam button not working properly.
- jrnichols 10y ago
  I definitely had this problem. I moved from a metal server to a VPS which had a different IP address, and it's taken probably 3 months to finally have a decent enough email reputation so that Gmail isn't automatically dumping email into spam. And you have to drill down to even get to that Spam folder too. It was at the point where I really couldn't effectively communicate with anyone on gmail because of that. The answer I kept getting was "Well, why don't you just use Gmail instead of your own email stuff?" It's kind of scary to me sometimes just how well Google has managed to get people to equate email with Gmail.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
RachelF 10y ago
I have the same problem. A few emails a week get classified as spam by gmail, when they should not. I guess many users don't complain about it as they never look in their gmail spam folders and see emails that they should have received.

doh 10y ago

Gmail's anti-spam filters have the opposite problem, putting a ton of legit emails into the spam folder. The other day I had to sign a NDA from Google and it ended up in the spam folder. We were on the phone for over 20 minutes just waiting for the NDA to come, until I decided to check the spam folder and sure enough, there it was. The spam filter is in my opinion too dumb for this age. Once you mark one email from one domain as a spam, every single email from that domain ends up in the spam folder also. For instance I don't want to see stupid Comcast commercial offerings but I need to receive my invoice every month. Unsubscribe works sometimes, but not all the time.

chmars 10y ago
I use many filters to deal with legitimate incoming mail – and I usually set the 'Never send it to Spam' tag. That has helped a lot!
syntheticnature 10y ago
I, too, have run into this. One email setup was moved to Google Apps, and it flagged JIRA email as spam. Once that was fixed, I figured I was good, but more recently it flagged a document share request... from Google Docs... originating from within the same organization (i.e. same Google Apps account). Left hand, meet right hand.

chmars 10y ago

It pays to check for false positives from time to time. Other than that, Gmail's spam filter is really impressive, especially given that I have catch-all enabled (via Google Apps).

dboreham 10y ago

The challenge with spam filtering isn't in stopping all spam, but rather with nother filtering that one random email that turns out to lead to a life-changing opportunity..