OT: spam filtering idea

[Peter Hansen]

Paul Rubin wrote:
> 
> Yeah there are better newsgroups for it, but this is where I hang out
> and the subject has come up here.  I just thought of it after seeing
> the "join our community" thing here on c.l.py.
> [snip ideas] 
> Thoughts?

I've been thinking for some time that this is a perfect area for genetic
algorithms.  They will automatically adapt to changing conditions just
as your low-pass filter concept would, but I suspect the number of false
positives and negatives could eventually be quite low.

Of course, upgrading the Internet to require authentication in email
would probably be an even more effective approach...

-Peter