# Porno spam mixed in with ligit office emails--what to do? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 8, 2003, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porno-spam-mixed-in-with-ligit-office-emails-what-to-do/180486 "2003-06-08T17:48:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porno-spam-mixed-in-with-ligit-office-emails-what-to-do/180486/1 "2003-06-08T17:48:15Z")
What do you do in your place of work with pornographic emails? Here’s my situation: We receive 10-20 emails a day, mostly with attachments of architectural drawings. But there is a bit of spam mixed with the legitimate and important email.And some of the spam is porno(duh!) It is the secretary’s job to deal with email, to download the files we recieve, burn them to a cd and file them.So what to do when she opens an email with a pornographic picture and attachment? She is a wonderful, hardworking 20 yr old woman, and is willing to laugh it off occasionally. But it offends her , and she says so honestly. In our small office (8 people), we are all friendly and informal. But how do larger corporations handle the problem? If you have to be politically correct-what do you do?So many trivial things are considered sexual harassment these days– (about a year ago a female employee filed a lawsuit,complaining that her co-workers were discussing a TV show, and it offended her (the sexual humor of Jerry Seinfeld’s episode on masturbation, I think). But porno email is a much more intrusive problem. Do large companies have policies about this? ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porno-spam-mixed-in-with-ligit-office-emails-what-to-do/180486/2 "2003-06-08T18:10:04Z")
Wouldn’t it be understood that spam e-mails would _not_ have to be filed? ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porno-spam-mixed-in-with-ligit-office-emails-what-to-do/180486/3 "2003-06-08T18:29:32Z")
The problem is that, until you open the email, you don’t know if it is spam or not. And most porno has an offensive picture in the opening screen. At home, I either take a second to enjoy it (if there are no kids in the room) or just hit the delete key. But the workplace is not a private home. ---
**Author:** ![D.E.S.K.Top668](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@D.E.S.K.Top668](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D.E.S.K.Top668)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porno-spam-mixed-in-with-ligit-office-emails-what-to-do/180486/4 "2003-06-08T18:32:12Z")
At least one company I deal with professionally has, as a condition of employment, an agreement that says basically they’ll make an effort to keep spam out of the CSR’s e-mails but they can’t be sued if some get through. If you don’t want to take the chance that you’ll be exposed to it, you don’t sign the agreement and you don’t get a job as a CSR there. [slight hijack] At least some cable companies make their engineers sign a similar agreement. Since part of the job is visually checking the incoming and outgoing feeds, including adult content channels, they can’t later sue for being forced to watch part of “Raunchy Redheads #55”[/slight hijack] Peace-DESK ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porno-spam-mixed-in-with-ligit-office-emails-what-to-do/180486/5 "2003-06-08T19:34:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by chappachula \* > **The problem is that, until you open the email, you don’t know if it is spam or not. And most porno has an offensive picture in the opening screen.** What mail client does the secretary use? Some can be forced to open all messages in plain text. This would prevent any pictures from displaying when the email is opened. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porno-spam-mixed-in-with-ligit-office-emails-what-to-do/180486/6 "2003-06-08T21:14:00Z")
I agree. Plaintext mode is the way to go. God be with you if you’re using Outlook. (Though I think that can be coerced into plaintext mode as well.) ---
**Author:** ![Siege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porno-spam-mixed-in-with-ligit-office-emails-what-to-do/180486/7 "2003-06-08T22:03:08Z")
I’m pretty sure MS Outlook can be configured for plaintext only. I don’t have it on my home machine, so I’ll let you know tomorrow evening, if by some miracle someone doesn’t beat me to it by then. As a bit of interim advice, I’d make a note of the e-mail addresses these e-mails are coming from and either block them or shunt them off to a folder, preferably the Trash folder, i.e. anthing from [insertname]@pornospam.com. This, of course, assumes these e-mails aren’t coming from a source which would have a legitimate reason for e-mailing you. If they are, I’d say you’ve got bigger troubles than routine spam. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porno-spam-mixed-in-with-ligit-office-emails-what-to-do/180486/8 "2003-06-08T22:38:31Z")
I would put deleted spam or porno email into a ‘trash’ folder, then save, virus/trojan scan & write that to cd in case something important is in it. Shouldn’t you be virus/trojan scanning email before opening it chappachula? ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porno-spam-mixed-in-with-ligit-office-emails-what-to-do/180486/9 "2003-06-08T22:40:49Z")
With Outlook, it’s very easy. First, you turn off the Preview Pane (in View). Next, if you come across an email that you’re not sure about, you right click it and choose Properties. Then go to Detail and you’ll be able to see the text of the message, including any HTML. I do this frequently if I’m not sure what the mesasge is. It’s almost always spam. ---
**Author:** ![Flymaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c4cdca/32.png) [@Flymaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flymaster)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porno-spam-mixed-in-with-ligit-office-emails-what-to-do/180486/10 "2003-06-08T22:47:23Z")
I’d HIGHLY recommend MailShield by Lyris ([www.lyris.com](http://www.lyris.com)). It’s a spectacular program, and well worth the $60 that it costs to purchase. You’ll never see another spam again, after about 2 weeks of training it. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porno-spam-mixed-in-with-ligit-office-emails-what-to-do/180486/11 "2003-06-08T23:07:03Z")
I recommend SpamPal - one of the plugins available for it has the capacity to ‘learn’ to recognise spam by example - I have mine trained to something like 99.5% reliability - you may do better than me - some of our incoming emails legitimately contain ‘rude’ words, as one of our clients is a publisher of erotic books - very occasionally one of these gets classified as spam. ---
**Author:** ![Slartibartfastt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5e9695/32.png) [@Slartibartfastt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slartibartfastt)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porno-spam-mixed-in-with-ligit-office-emails-what-to-do/180486/12 "2003-06-08T23:23:19Z")
Get a new E-mail address then give whoever has to send you the legitimate E-mail with the drawings this E-mail address, and only use that address for this purpose. Then close the old E-mail account. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porno-spam-mixed-in-with-ligit-office-emails-what-to-do/180486/13 "2003-06-09T00:49:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dantheman \* > **With Outlook, it’s very easy. First, you turn off the Preview Pane (in View). Next, if you come across an email that you’re not sure about, you right click it and choose Properties. Then go to Detail and you’ll be able to see the text of the message, including any HTML.** No, not in Outlook. You can only see the headers by right-clicking and hitting **Options** , not the text of the message. In Outlook _Express_ it’s a simple matter of going to **Tools|Options|Read** and selecting **Read all messages in plain text**. With Outlook XP you can force plain text by going to the registry key **HKCU/Software/Microsoft/Office/10.0/Outlook/Options/Mail** and adding the REG\_DWORD **ReadAsPlain** with the value **0x01**. Actually I haven’t tested this last trick, but I read about it online and it seems plausible. ---
**Author:** ![ReBusEniGma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@ReBusEniGma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReBusEniGma)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porno-spam-mixed-in-with-ligit-office-emails-what-to-do/180486/14 "2003-06-09T05:01:59Z")
We have over 100 employees, and our spam policy is quite varied. We know that spam is fact of life and prepare those that work for us to be prepared as well. We have measures in place to monitor internet content etc. Education of corporate policy is key. Some people have already mentioned some excellent suggestions, such as plain text, turning off the preview pane etc. As for pro-active real-time spam protection, we recommend and use [Spamnet™](http://www.cloudmark.com/products/spamnet/) in our office, and I swear by it. Their buzzword is “Collaborative SpamFighting”. It has been an incredible time save for us and it’s worth every cent. The betas are free for personal use as well. ---
**Author:** ![juxta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9f8e36/32.png) [@juxta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/juxta)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porno-spam-mixed-in-with-ligit-office-emails-what-to-do/180486/15 "2003-06-09T05:13:49Z")
I’m not sure how to stop it, but there is one NO when dealing with spam. Don’t ever use the link that says “to not receive anymore mails from us click here” (or variations on this) all this does is verify to the company that yours is a working email. ---
**Author:** ![Gozu\_Tashoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porno-spam-mixed-in-with-ligit-office-emails-what-to-do/180486/16 "2003-06-09T07:30:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mangetout \* > \*\*I recommend SpamPal - one of the plugins available for it has the capacity to ‘learn’ to recognise spam by example - I have mine trained to something like 99.5% reliability - you may do better than me - some of our incoming emails legitimately contain ‘rude’ words, as one of our clients is a publisher of erotic books - very occasionally one of these gets classified as spam. \*\* OOC, what’s the name of the plugin? Sounds neat. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porno-spam-mixed-in-with-ligit-office-emails-what-to-do/180486/17 "2003-06-09T09:57:01Z")
Bayesian filtering - it is a method of statistical analysis that (as far as I understand it) can quantify similarities in word occurrence and distribution. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porno-spam-mixed-in-with-ligit-office-emails-what-to-do/180486/18 "2003-06-09T10:30:18Z")
Run them through spell check and send them back so they might be a bit less illiterate. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porno-spam-mixed-in-with-ligit-office-emails-what-to-do/180486/19 "2003-06-09T11:49:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Number \* > \*\*No, not in Outlook. You can only see the headers by right-clicking and hitting **Options** , not the text of the message. > > In Outlook _Express_ it’s a simple matter of going to **Tools|Options|Read** and selecting **Read all messages in plain text**. > > \*\* You’re right; I’ve used nothing but OE and I stupidly keep forgetting there’s an Outlook proper, not to mention Outlook XP and others. Thanks. I’m looking at OE now, though, and I don’t see “Read all messages in plain text” under the Read tab. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porno-spam-mixed-in-with-ligit-office-emails-what-to-do/180486/20 "2003-06-09T12:25:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dantheman \* > \*\*I’m looking at OE now, though, and I don’t see “Read all messages in plain text” under the Read tab. \*\* What version? It’s the fourth option from the top in OE6. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porno-spam-mixed-in-with-ligit-office-emails-what-to-do/180486.md?page=2)