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I decided to do a quick check of my gmail; there were 151 emails in spam, and literally not one I would want in my inbox. It seems entirely likely that Google

I decided to do a quick check of my gmail; there were 151 emails in spam, and literally not one I would want in my inbox. It seems entirely likely that Google is weighting whether something comes from a private mail server very heavily, and Linus, being who he is, gets a lot of email from private servers. Not saying this isn't a problem, but it probably doesn't affect 99% of email users.

wahnfrieden 11y ago
Just FYI, most spam does not even reach your spam folder.
- nchelluri 11y ago
  What happens to it? It gets blackholed somehow?
  - leonatan 11y ago
    Mail relay servers deny its acceptance.
    - wahnfrieden 11y ago
      Google can also decide it's not even worth showing in the spam folder - the spam folder is for things it's less certain of.
- themartorana 11y ago
  True. We send thousands of emails a week and all of a sudden a large portion weren't even delivered. Turns out it's all DMARC and once those policies were fixed (assigned at all) the delivery denials ended. This helped us: https://dmarc.postmarkapp.com https://dmarc.postmarkapp.com
pbreit 11y ago
"I would want in my inbox" Unfortunately that's not the definition of spam.
- baudehlo 11y ago
  But that is his/her definition of spam. And as someone who has worked in the anti spam field, I'm ok with that. However I have the same problems Linus has so I am not excusing gmail one bit in this.
  - pbreit 11y ago
    But the people with a warped view of spam ruin it for everyone else.
detaro 11y ago
So by your generous estimate, it affects more than one million users. Sounds kinda bad.
e12e 11y ago
> Not saying this isn't a problem, but it probably doesn't affect 99% of email users. So, with a conservative one billion email users, only 10 million users see this problem.
- wutbrodo 11y ago
  This is pedantry, but 1 billion isn't all that conservative. GMail announced ~425M users in June 2012 and announced 900M a month and a half ago.
  - e12e 11y ago
    Thanks for pointing out the real numbers. In my defence, I was thinking "conservative for the near future", so the next 5 years or so. An of course giving 9M users a bad experience isn't that great either.
    - austenallred 11y ago
      If we're being pedantic, it's probably worth noting that the "99%" was a completely arbitrary assumption, and trying to run statistics based on one anecdote and an unfounded assumption is not going to produce accurate results.
      - e12e 11y ago
        True. I suppose the main point is that with a billion users, even some "small fraction" of users having problems, is going to translate to a lot of people having problems. Honestly, if Google took support even half-seriously (or: they considered eg: users of gmail their customers, rather than just their advertisers) -- these kind of issues wouldn't be so bad. I do think it's just a question of time before Google relegates itself to irrelevance through a strictly inferior product though.
jimktrains2 11y ago
> I decided to do a quick check of my gmail; there were 151 emails in spam, and literally not one I would want in my inbox. I find about 2 a week that have been marked as Spam and shouldn't have been. Your experience is not everyones (nor is mine).
brewdad 11y ago
Oddly, I have had the opposite problem. This past week I have had to delete 4 or 5 obvious V!@g&a!!!!!-type spam emails from my priority tab of my inbox. I can't remember the last time I had that happen. Something isn't working quite right.
- Bjartr 11y ago
  I wonder if they rolled out some kind of new algorithm, or major algorithm change before it was ready for prime time.
- jeffmould 11y ago
  Have been seeing the same thing here as well. With spam messages coming through as normal mail. I have also been having any messages that are replies to messages I send being diverted to my spam folder randomly. It is happening on both my personal gmail account and on a business account. It seems lately Google has really been less focused on the core components that made them successful in the first place. I have found their search results seem to be returning more spam sites than before. My vote is to get Matt Cutts to come back and start cleaning up spam again :)

wahnfrieden 11y ago

Just FYI, most spam does not even reach your spam folder.

nchelluri 11y ago
What happens to it? It gets blackholed somehow?
- leonatan 11y ago
  Mail relay servers deny its acceptance.
  - wahnfrieden 11y ago
    Google can also decide it's not even worth showing in the spam folder - the spam folder is for things it's less certain of.
themartorana 11y ago
True. We send thousands of emails a week and all of a sudden a large portion weren't even delivered. Turns out it's all DMARC and once those policies were fixed (assigned at all) the delivery denials ended. This helped us: https://dmarc.postmarkapp.com https://dmarc.postmarkapp.com

pbreit 11y ago

"I would want in my inbox" Unfortunately that's not the definition of spam.

baudehlo 11y ago
But that is his/her definition of spam. And as someone who has worked in the anti spam field, I'm ok with that. However I have the same problems Linus has so I am not excusing gmail one bit in this.
- pbreit 11y ago
  But the people with a warped view of spam ruin it for everyone else.

detaro 11y ago

So by your generous estimate, it affects more than one million users. Sounds kinda bad.

e12e 11y ago

> Not saying this isn't a problem, but it probably doesn't affect 99% of email users. So, with a conservative one billion email users, only 10 million users see this problem.

wutbrodo 11y ago
This is pedantry, but 1 billion isn't all that conservative. GMail announced ~425M users in June 2012 and announced 900M a month and a half ago.
- e12e 11y ago
  Thanks for pointing out the real numbers. In my defence, I was thinking "conservative for the near future", so the next 5 years or so. An of course giving 9M users a bad experience isn't that great either.
  - austenallred 11y ago
    If we're being pedantic, it's probably worth noting that the "99%" was a completely arbitrary assumption, and trying to run statistics based on one anecdote and an unfounded assumption is not going to produce accurate results.
    - e12e 11y ago
      True. I suppose the main point is that with a billion users, even some "small fraction" of users having problems, is going to translate to a lot of people having problems. Honestly, if Google took support even half-seriously (or: they considered eg: users of gmail their customers, rather than just their advertisers) -- these kind of issues wouldn't be so bad. I do think it's just a question of time before Google relegates itself to irrelevance through a strictly inferior product though.

jimktrains2 11y ago

> I decided to do a quick check of my gmail; there were 151 emails in spam, and literally not one I would want in my inbox. I find about 2 a week that have been marked as Spam and shouldn't have been. Your experience is not everyones (nor is mine).

brewdad 11y ago

Oddly, I have had the opposite problem. This past week I have had to delete 4 or 5 obvious V!@g&a!!!!!-type spam emails from my priority tab of my inbox. I can't remember the last time I had that happen. Something isn't working quite right.

Bjartr 11y ago
I wonder if they rolled out some kind of new algorithm, or major algorithm change before it was ready for prime time.
jeffmould 11y ago
Have been seeing the same thing here as well. With spam messages coming through as normal mail. I have also been having any messages that are replies to messages I send being diverted to my spam folder randomly. It is happening on both my personal gmail account and on a business account. It seems lately Google has really been less focused on the core components that made them successful in the first place. I have found their search results seem to be returning more spam sites than before. My vote is to get Matt Cutts to come back and start cleaning up spam again :)