Creating a Spam Filter Rule in Pine

ITS provides campus e-mail users a way of identifying incoming messages with a high resemblance to spam. These suspicious messages are flagged with the warning "POTENTIAL SPAM" added to the subject line of the message. This identification system allows CU-Boulder e-mail users to filter most junk e-mail away from their inboxes, thereby reducing the inconvenience and frustration of dealing with spam.

For more information about ITS's effort against spam go to www.colorado.edu/its/email/spam.html

Creating a Spam Filter

1. Using a text editor create a file called .procmailrc and save this file in your home directory.

2. Edit the file by adding the following text.

## Begin: Code to Filter potential spam messages
:0:
* ^Subject: POTENTIAL SPAM:
mail/potential-spam
## End: Code to Filter potential spam messages

3. Enter the text exactly as it is, except for the purple text above that says "potential-spam". You will need to enter the folder's name where you want these messages filtered to. This folder needs to exist in your mail directory. If you don't already have one, ITS recommends you create a folder called potential-spam.

4. Save the file. Your potential spam filter has now been setup.

For more information about spam go to www.colorado.edu/its/email/spam.html