Our Graymail Filter Keeps the Inbox Slim

Our Graymail Filter Keeps the Inbox Slim

Retarus E-Mail Security customers have long been given the option of either marking legitimate mass-emails for immediate delivery or choosing to send them straight to quarantine by way of precaution.

Historically, we had simply been calling all such legitimate mass email transmissions “newsletters”. But since the end of 2016 we are using the more accurate term “graymail” instead, as such messages often occupy the gray zone between wanted, consciously subscribed contents and unrequested spam (we explain this to end users in the glossary to which “Graymail” links as a reason in the digest). For instance, newsletters on topics in which one has lost interest over time or over-eager notifications from carrier networks – the list is endless.

According to Wikipedia, such messages can easily account for more than 80 percent of the average email inbox. Technically, it is very challenging to distinguish accurately between a newsletter and spam – in large part because the respective pain thresholds, beyond which recipients may find themselves bothered by a certain message, can vary greatly between different users.

EAS Graymail settings

In our experience, a pleasant side effect of the Graymail quarantine is that it sometimes filters out even more unwanted advertising than the dedicated spam filter. This applies in particular to spam mails that contain typical features of a newsletter, such as a unsubscribe link.

As an E-Mail Security administrator, why not try out how the additional Graymail quarantine affects the spam load of your users! They will certainly thank you if they are even less bothered with unwanted mails in this way.

Tags: // //