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My web host company handles my email & they run it through Apache Spam Assasin.

Using CPanel, I only see options to black/white-list domains, but I would like to mark as spam based on certain words in the email subject.

Is it on-topic to ask on this site how to do so?

[Update] ServerFault Meta says that this question is off-topic there

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  • It looks like Spam Assassin isn't intended as an out-of-the-box consumer application. It requires a lot of manual configuration by someone who knows what they're doing. It sounds like your ISP is running it on their servers to filter email before it gets to you. You may have access to some limited supplemental controls, but it doesn't sound like an application that's running on your own computer. My assumption would be that anything you might want to do that isn't visible to you is out of your control. The kind of granular control you describe is typically handled by your own email client.
    – fixer1234
    Commented Sep 29, 2018 at 19:46
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    I don't think it would violate site rules to post the question on SU, but I suspect the answer will be that you have no control over it via Spam Assassin at your end. The question to ask is how to do it using your email client.
    – fixer1234
    Commented Sep 29, 2018 at 19:49
  • @fixer1234 It’s not the author’s installation, so the question as currently written, would be the author cannot make this configuration change. My assumption is the author doesn’t have complete control over the Spam Assasin configuration.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Sep 30, 2018 at 4:09
  • @Ramhound, I think we're both saying the same thing.
    – fixer1234
    Commented Sep 30, 2018 at 5:07
  • I do actually have control over it, via CPanel, and would have to configure it thus. I can't do anything at the client, as I use multipel clients, via IMAP, and am not aware that marking something as spam in a client would feed back to the server. If I mark at client, I need to make the same settings at all clients :-(
    – Mawg
    Commented Sep 30, 2018 at 9:31
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    If you believe you can do it thru the local controls you've been given by your web host, I would think this would be on-topic here (although it isn't clear how helpful we can be; it may depend on what has been provided in your CPanel, which sounds like something under the web host's discretion). You would want to describe the issues raised and answered here in this question to avoid having to deal with them again on the main site. The first question people are likely to ask is did you contact your web host for advice and what did they say, so you might want to start there before posting. :-)
    – fixer1234
    Commented Oct 1, 2018 at 6:44
  • I guess I could just ask the web host, then post a question here and answer it, in case it might help others in future
    – Mawg
    Commented Oct 1, 2018 at 6:48
  • So it kinda falls in a grey area, I think. It is technically a web application, so Web Apps sounds right. But Web Apps is geared more towards websites that behave more like user applications. Personally I'd vote for Server Fault because SA is a pro-level product that benefits from pro-level administration, but they appear not to want it. SU does become a bit of a catch-all at times, and for that reason I would say it should be allowed here.
    – music2myear
    Commented Oct 3, 2018 at 16:01
  • Being as it is that your Webhost are the people best able to answer your question, but then also noting it is impossible to say with certainty that no one else would benefit from that knowledge, definitely get the answer from them and then share it here.
    – music2myear
    Commented Oct 3, 2018 at 16:02

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
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https://cpanel.com/support/ or your hosting provider support.

The point is, your provider has configured their servers in a way that's only known to them, and made a web interface that only they know in detail. Because of this, general knowledge about server software is unlikely to help you, and answers concerning your provider in particular are unlikely to help the next visitor who has a different hosting provider.

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    Surely CPanel is ubiquitous and I would expect something like that to be left as default, unless there is a very compelling reason. Nvm, I solved it another way - "global email filters"
    – Mawg
    Commented Oct 4, 2018 at 12:03
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According to the Asking page, you shouldn't ask questions about "issues specific to corporate IT support and networks".

From this, I assume that Server Fault would be a better place for such a question.

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  • It's a stretch to call it corporate. Ok, in this case, it is running on my web host's server & they are corporate, but it could just as easilly be running on my home server. However, Server Fault sounds like an idea. Thanks.
    – Mawg
    Commented Sep 30, 2018 at 9:28
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    ServerFault are adamant that the question is off-topic there :-( meta.serverfault.com/questions/9404/…
    – Mawg
    Commented Oct 1, 2018 at 6:16
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I have access to a CPanel installation. I can also SSH to that same machine. I don't offhand know if SSH is built in as part of a standard CPanel install, or if that was separately done to the server I use.

If the user has SSH access, I would consider this to be very similar to running software on one's own machine. Therefore, on-topic, as SuperUser covers running software.

If the user doesn't, then this really boils down to using a web interface, and I believe that the topic of "how to use a website" may be less on-topic, namely because you may not have "full access" (e.g., you may not be able to remove the software, and install an upgraded version of the software if that fixed things), so this would be more about a service that someone else is providing, rather than software that you are directly overseeing.

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    (These are just opinions, shared as food for thought. They are not strongly held opinions; I could easily see myself flip-flopping in an hour and having a different preference.)
    – TOOGAM
    Commented Oct 11, 2018 at 12:58

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