Email that comes from the internet to andrews.edu goes through the a set of anti-spam/anti-virus servers which are used to filter all incoming email.

The first criteria for blocking email is a blacklist of known spammer companies and connections from homes where computers frequently have viruses. We have been using these kinds of blacklist blocks for several years now. To override these blacklists requires an action by the system administrator.

Other criteria for blocking email includes a spam content score which is generated by analyzing the content of the message and headers, and a Bayesian filter score. Messages that have a spam content score of 15 or greater will be automatically rejected. Any message that would have been blocked because of a spam content score or Bayesian filter score can be overridden by creating a personal whitelist rule for that sender. Similarly, mail from any sender can be blocked by creating a personal blacklist rule.

When a message is suspected to be spam, it is held in a database for you to either accept it as non-spam or reject it as spam. The process of accepting or rejecting a message is called voting. When the Bayesian filter gets enough votes (both for good and bad email) it will start influencing what is accepted, held for review, or rejected as spam.

There is a Bayesian filter that applies to the entire system and one that applies to just your email. All accepted or rejected email is used to train both your personal Bayesian filter and the corporate Bayesian filter that is used by everyone.

When a message is held for review, you will be sent an email telling you what was held and giving you a web address where you can go to review and accept or reject a message, or whitelist or blacklist email addresses. Your personal held email and configuration options can be accessed by going to http://www.andrews.edu/spam and logging in with your Andrews username and password. Messages that are accepted should be sent to your inbox within about 10 minutes.

I would encourage you to check the spam web site to approve or reject any email that is held there when you get email notifications about it.