Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Response to Gordon Cormack's Study of Spam Detection

Posted by michael on from the even-stephen dept.

Nuclear Elephant writes "In light of Gordon Cormack's Study of Spam Detection recently posted on Slashdot, I felt compelled to architect an appropriate response to Cormack's technical errors in testing which ultimately explain why one of the world's most accurate spam filters (CRM114) could possibly end up at the bottom of the list, underneath SpamAssassin. I spend some time explaining what is a correct test process and keep my grievances simplified about the shortcomings of Cormack's research."

20 of 229 comments (clear)

  1. Architect is not a verb. by adb · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Hope this helps.

    1. Re:Architect is not a verb. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      Any noun can be verbed.

    2. Re:Architect is not a verb. by pete-classic · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      adb, you stole my post!

      Jonathan,

      Invest in a thesaurus. Or you can use this one. You might have used any of the following perfectly serviceable verbs: scratch, scrawl, scribble; draft, draw, make out, write down, write up, hatch, make, generate, or construct.

      Please don't recast innocent nouns as verbs.

      Thank You,
      Peter

    3. Re:Architect is not a verb. by jetmarc · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      > Architect is not a verb ... so don't verb it.

  2. Even Stephen? by illuminatedwax · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Even Stephen? That doesn't rhyme nearly as well as "Even Steven."

    --Stephen

    --
    Did you ever notice that *nix doesn't even cover Linux?
  3. guess... by Llama_STi · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    the spam's gonna hit the fan... ;D

  4. Confirmed: Architect not a verb by Exmet+Paff+Daxx · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=architect :
    1. One who designs and supervises the construction of buildings or other large structures.
    2. One that plans or devises: a country considered to be the chief architect of war in the Middle East.

    I mean, it's not even a second meaning. It's just plain English abuse. I hope this Zdziarski guy's paper is decent, since he's pretty tripped my spam filter from the gate.
    --
    If guns kill people, then CmdrTaco's keyboard misspells words.
    1. Re:Confirmed: Architect not a verb by j_kenpo · · Score: 1, Offtopic

      http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=google

      The World-Wide Web search engine that
      indexes the greatest number of web pages - over two billion by
      December 2001 and provides a free service that searches this
      index in less than a second.

      The site's name is apparently derived from "googol", but
      note the difference in spelling.

      The "Google" spelling is also used in "The Hitchhikers Guide
      to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams, in which one of Deep
      Thought's designers asks, "And are you not," said Fook,
      leaning anxiously foward, "a greater analyst than the
      Googleplex Star Thinker in the Seventh Galaxy of Light and
      Ingenuity which can calculate the trajectory of every single
      dust particle throughout a five-week Dangrabad Beta sand
      blizzard?"

      Home http://www.google.com/.

      (2001-12-28)

      Look, thats not a verb either, but people still use it...

    2. Re:Confirmed: Architect not a verb by WhatAmIDoingHere · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      But if it becomes a verb, Google loses it's hold on the name. You can't trademark a verb. Or something.

      That's why back in the early 90's, Jeep put out an advertisement in most car-trader magazines saying "If it's not from GM, it isn't a Jeep!". People were calling anything that kinda looked like a Jeep a Jeep.

      --
      Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
    3. Re:Confirmed: Architect not a verb by magefile · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      It makes sense, though. If you want to take the flexible view, language is constantly evolving, and the verbing (no pun intended) of nouns is popular, as mentioned in the jargon file. We all understood what he meant, anyway. Second-language teachers call this communicative competence.

      If you want to be less forgiving, English is a Germanic language. Thus, it makes sense that as German noun-verbing (Esse [food] => essen [to eat], etc) is acceptable and even common, English noun-verbing should be acceptable.

      Yeah, I know, IHBT, IHL, HAND.

    4. Re:Confirmed: Architect not a verb by pipingguy · · Score: 0, Offtopic


      If you want to take the flexible view, language is constantly evolving...

      Sure, but so many terms are being invented now (IHBT, IHL, HAND, war-whatevering, etc.) that attempt should be made to properly use existing words don't you think?

      "Architect" and "engineer" are frequently used interchangeably (improperly), no doubt this is the source of the malapropism.

  5. you 7ail i7 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Anybody's guess From the OpenBSD 1. Therefore it's future at all

    1. Re:you 7ail i7 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      You tail it? You just failed it with 1337 speak.. you are teh suck.

  6. Obligatory GTA:Vice City reference by Otis2222222 · · Score: -1, Offtopic
    From my favorite station, VCPR:

    Guy: I have a condo, I have a hot tub, I vacation in Aruba.

    Maurice Chavez: Vacation is not a verb moron!

  7. Why use "architect" - why not "write" by fantomas · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I'd like to ask the author 'michael' why he chose to note that he had been compelled to "architect" a response , rather than "write" a response? I'm afraid from this point my gut response was that 'michael' might be a bit pretentious and hence his writings not to be trusted. Please help me here folks, maybe I am being unfair..what's the difference between "writing" a response and err, "architecting" a response?

  8. pretentious jargon suX0rs! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Great! After I have architected my response, I will deploy my automobile, implement my lunch, and orchestrate the integration of my sensory inputs.

  9. Slashdot idol! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic
    The judge with a pump:

    JUNE 24--While seated on the bench, an Oklahoma judge used a male enhancement pump, shaved and oiled his nether region, and pleasured himself, state officials charged yesterday in a petition to remove the jurist. According to the below complaint filed by the Oklahoma Attorney General, Donald D. Thompson, 57, was caught in the act by a clerk, trial witnesses, and his longtime court reporter (these unsettling first-hand accounts will make you wonder what's going on under other black robes). Visitors to Thompson's Creek County courtroom reported hearing a "swooshing" sound coming from the bench, a noise the court reporter said "sounded like a blood pressure cuff being pumped up." Thompson, the complaint charges, even pumped himself up during an August 2003 murder trial.

  10. Re:Grammar by anethema · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    yes

    --


    It's easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.
  11. Re:You don't like my software so I'll flame you by Alanoman · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    He appears to be a bible-thumper.

    One of my favourite quotes from this article is "there's more evidence to support the existence of Jesus than there is Julis Caesar". !!

  12. Re:for god's sake... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I dunno, what's the difference between a pile of shit and a pile of fresh fertilizer?