MetaChat - How do I tell gmail that a regular contact is not "possible spam"?

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20 March 2010

How do I tell gmail that a regular contact is not "possible spam"? Someone who is not trying to spam me keeps getting labeled as "Possible Spam" in my Gmail account. Is there a way to let Gmail know that this is in fact a person from whom I want to hear?→[More:] Hotmail had a "Not Spam" button for such things, but it seems to be lacking in Gmail.

post by: occhiblu at: 00:18 | 18 comments

There is a Not Spam button. Maybe you need to add them as a contact? If you have, maybe this helps?

posted by dhartung 20 March | 00:58

The only surefire way to get someone to not appear in the spam box is to set up a filter.

posted by The Devil Tesla 20 March | 01:27

Yes, add them as a contact and that will solve your problem (says the man who solved this very problem earlier today).

posted by BitterOldPunk 20 March | 01:41

I just tried adding him as a contact; we'll see if that helps.

I think the "Not Spam" button appears only if the message actually went into the Spam folder? These messages are showing up in my inbox; they just all say "POSSIBLE SPAM" in the subject line, which is annoying.

posted by occhiblu 20 March | 12:25

I have never ever seen a message in my Gmail inbox that says "POSSIBLE SPAM".

posted by rhapsodie 21 March | 00:35

Yeah, I would bet a lot of money that's the work of some other server along the way, not a gmail problem.

posted by Wolfdog 21 March | 12:17

posted by Wolfdog 21 March | 15:20

More specifically, I bet the guy you're talking to has spam filtering software which is flagging YOUR mails as possible spam, and then that marker stays in the subject line when he replies. Quite probably he needs to whitelist you.

No, it's showing up even when he emails me first.

He's got a graphic signature-type thing at the bottom of his emails with his name and website and logo (he's a realtor); I suspect that may be what's causing the issue.

posted by occhiblu 21 March | 17:26

That may be the trigger, but it's not something you're going to be able to fix in gmail. Altering subject lines just isn't something gmail does (any evidence anyone has to the contrary quite welcome, of course) - there's another mail server somewhere between you two with a spam filter.

posted by Wolfdog 21 March | 17:34

I have never ever seen a message in my Gmail inbox that says "POSSIBLE SPAM".

Agreed. This is not something gmail does.

posted by jessamyn 21 March | 19:05

Agreed. This is not something gmail does.

All right, that's weird, because I have not only this guy but another company that gets labeled that way in my inbox.

Maybe they're using the same server?

posted by occhiblu 21 March | 21:39

All right, no, I've got five or six separate senders (some local, some national) getting sent to my inbox with "[POSSIBLE SPAM]" added to the subject line. All the others are mailing lists; the realtor is the only one sending direct-to-me-and-me-only emails.

posted by occhiblu 21 March | 21:42

Actually, scratch that, because my 401k administrator is also getting labeled as possible spam and they're sending direct-to-me emails, too.

posted by occhiblu 21 March | 21:44

And on going farther back into my inbox, an email from a friend who does not normally get labeled spam got a "[POSSIBLE SPAM]" on an email that had the word "penis" in the subject line, and was a one-line email with a link to an article.

I find it hard to believe this isn't Gmail's issue.

posted by occhiblu 21 March | 21:47

If one of the common "offenders" is someone you can ask for a little cooperation, then ask them to CC another one of your mail accounts (or a throwaway like occhiblu@mailinator.com) the next few times they mail you. If the message shows up with the altered subject line in both places, then you've learned something. If not, you've also learned something.

posted by Wolfdog 22 March | 06:35

Literally zero of the messages I have ever received at my Google account have been labeled "Possible Spam".

Stupid question - are you using your Gmail account to receive emails sent to a different email address? Like a work email account or a personal domain account? Those email servers might have spam filters that would change the subject line before they get forwarded to your gmail account.

posted by muddgirl 22 March | 07:44

muddgirl, my email address is a forwarding address set up by my university, but *all* the emails coming into my gmail account are sent to that address (I don't give out the gmail address, only the forwarding address). So that doesn't explain why some emails are getting flagged and others are not.

But it does mean that the university email system may be inserting the "Possible Spam" label, then, doesn't it? Off to investigate...

posted by occhiblu 22 March | 11:24

AH HA!

Spam Protection

Mail sent to Post.Harvard email addresses is scanned by Spam Assassin. Spam Assassin does not delete spam. Rather, it flags suspected spam messages as [POSSIBLE SPAM], which empowers alumni to make their own choices about how to handle flagged messages. You can choose to manually review messages flagged as [POSSIBLE SPAM], or set up a filter on your destination account to delete flagged messages or sort them into a designated folder.

So it's Harvard that's being annoying, not Gmail. That probably shouldn't surprise me, since "We're going to do this really annoying thing whether you like it or not, and we're going to pretend like not caring about you 'empowers' you to make your own choices" is a pretty standard M.O. over there.

Thank you all for beating me over the head enough to convince me that it wasn't Gmail, and to muddgirl especially for the email forwarding illumination. (And sorry to everyone who tried to help who didn't have that piece of info; it completely slipped my mind that I had my email set up that way.)

posted by occhiblu 22 March | 11:34

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