Bogofilter Tuning Issues...

[Chris Ditri]

Hello again,

I really appreciate the effort put forth in the bogofilter-tuning HOWTO.  
While I found it generally illuminating, there are few things I am left 
without answers to:

1) It is indicated that an Ideal Robinson X is somewhere around .5.  What 
should we do if it is nowhere near .5?  Start the DB's from scratch (Ack!)?

2) It is suggested that Robinson s should start .1, but I don't see any 
suggestions on how to change this value -- or even see how to obatin  a 
print-out of your current s value.

3) Ditto with the MIN_DEV value and the suggested .2-.25 value.

I have watching my bogofilter accruacy slowly dwindle over the past few weeks.  
According to the howto, this is likely because my goodlist is twice the size 
of my spamlist (which likely explains my robinson x of .25).  It likewise 
says not to use the -u option... but in the man page the example that it 
gives uses it!

If we shouldn't use the procmail example in the man page (which uses the -u 
option), what would you suggest be the recommended procmailrc?  And, 
shouldn't this replace the example in the man page?

Important question:  Is there a way to restore this balance without having to 
totally retrain the filter?

It also suggests after getting about 5000 messages that we should only teach 
it about errors and unsures.  So basically you are saying that updates need 
to be done essentially by hand, since the only way to hear about "errors" is 
through account users and the only way to be certain of the value of 
"unsures" is to read them.  True?

I am currently using .11.1.6, and plan on upgrading to 11.2 (unless it is 
recommended I go right to 12.1....)

I appreciate your time.  Thanks!


Chris