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For 2023 (and 2024 ...) - we are now fully retired from IT training.
We have made many, many friends over 25 years of teaching about Python, Tcl, Perl, PHP, Lua, Java, C and C++ - and MySQL, Linux and Solaris/SunOS too. Our training notes are now very much out of date, but due to upward compatability most of our examples remain operational and even relevant ad you are welcome to make us if them "as seen" and at your own risk.

Lisa and I (Graham) now live in what was our training centre in Melksham - happy to meet with former delegates here - but do check ahead before coming round. We are far from inactive - rather, enjoying the times that we are retired but still healthy enough in mind and body to be active!

I am also active in many other area and still look after a lot of web sites - you can find an index ((here))
Email metrics

How many emails do YOU get each day? How many of them are unsolicited bulk emails that you throw away without evening opening them, or have your server reject? A long time ago, I wrote a PHP script that gives me a quick traffic graph looking back a number of weeks so that I can spot a changing pattern / sudden spam flood at just a few clicks. See here. ((PHP Programmers - the page also give you the source code of how we do this if you want to adopt a similar tactic))

Our emails are filtered by "Spam Assassin" which is an open source product supported by our ISP. By using a shared server, updates that are applied to spam assassin (such as data tables to help it recognise new forms of spam) are automatically added in to our account and we don't have to employ a staff member to do regular updates. However, we have tailored a preference file so that certain people and certain words in the subject line are always allowed through - "White listed" in the jargon. We've also set the preference file up so that it errs on the side of caution - emails that it suspects to be unsolicited and bulk but if doubtful about still get forwarded to us.

To give you an idea, around 1400 emails were received and rejected automatically by our server computer in the last 24 hours. An additional 900 or so were NOT rejected but were forwarded to one or more of us - that's the four of us, plus a couple of customer and family accounts. (The sample graph may show a different story as it's from the live site!) I'm guessing that in all that, I get a dozen or two emails a day from customers and contacts that I need to answer, plus about the same number of internal emails and perhaps 20 to 40 standard notifications and a handful of personal messages. That's why it's so easy to miss the odd important one and it will get worse as we start getting hotel booking enquiries in volume; I expect many people who are not "techies" to use very poor titles.

There's no easy way to avoid missing the odd important email - I nearly missed a quote request on Monday as the subject line was the name of the company who wanted training and at first glance I thought it was a suggestiion that I invest in their stock. So the headlined, non-personal email addresses on our main web site that people should use for a first contact send to four members of our team and everyone does a quick check - a series of saftey nets if you like.


But at the end of the day ... Dear Customer, dear contact ... if you email us and we don't reply within 24 hours, please write again. Your email and your business IS important to us.
(written 2006-09-20, updated 2008-09-15)

 
Associated topics are indexed as below, or enter http://melksh.am/nnnn for individual articles
P410 - Perl - Automated Email Answering
  [2232] Why sendmail one way, and pop3 the other? - (2009-06-12)
  [2235] Sending awkward characters by email in Perl - (2009-06-12)

G909 - Well House Consultants - Spam, Spamming and Spammers
  [259] Responding to spam - (2005-03-27)
  [268] Information request forms, cleaning up spam - (2005-04-05)
  [276] An apology to Mr Boneparte - (2005-04-11)
  [338] OO techniques are hard to teach - (2005-06-06)
  [347] Frightening and from-friend viruses and spams - (2005-06-14)
  [417] Telephone Preference Service - we're registered - (2005-08-17)
  [495] More spam - a success story - (2005-11-13)
  [1037] Impact Engineering and Backscatter - (2007-01-16)
  [1115] Unexpected visitors to our site - (2007-03-22)
  [1523] Ive just received an email from myself. Should I be worried? - (2008-01-29)
  [1532] Comment spam blocked. Please comment via Forums - (2008-02-05)
  [1763] Co-operating to save, yet we dont - (2008-08-21)
  [1817] Marc Schneider is still having email trouble - (2008-09-30)
  [1978] From spam to mod_alias - finding resources - (2009-01-05)
  [2019] Baby Caleb and Fortune City in your web logs? - (2009-01-31)
  [2177] Preventing forum spam - checks at sign up - (2009-05-12)
  [2179] Offers that I can refuse - (2009-05-12)
  [2276] Who is Marc Schneider of Multilingual Search Engine Optimization Inc - (2009-07-10)
  [2398] Websitemediasolution and a goldfish called Carl Johnson - (2009-09-06)
  [2697] Email metrics and filtering - (2010-03-28)
  [2884] Hotlinked images onto adult material sites - (2010-07-23)
  [3016] The legal considerations of your web presence - revisited - (2010-10-26)
  [3166] Well house is strong - confirmed? - (2011-02-11)
  [3190] What do the following web sites have in common? - (2011-03-03)
  [3316] Twitter Phishing Trips ... and a great new alert service - (2011-06-04)
  [3352] World Trade Register - Certainly NOT worth 2985 Euros. - (2011-07-09)
  [3506] Cold call contacts - preference services and turning off spam sales approaches - (2011-11-03)
  [3661] Keeping forum and blog comments clean - (2012-03-19)
  [3910] Identifying your real customers and keeping them well informed fast - (2012-11-02)
  [3912] Sand to Arabia, Coals to Newcastle or Woodburners to Russia - (2012-11-04)
  [3946] Moving from a warning system to a control system - PHP, forum spammers - (2012-12-07)
  [4135] Introducing your product to Well House Consultants - single, personally tuned email please - (2013-07-08)
  [4315] Welcoming genuine forum posters quickly - but turning away off topic advertisers - (2014-11-16)
  [4520] No cold sales calls please - but delighted to hear from others! - (2015-09-29)


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Hotel Exchange Rates
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Autumn comes to Wiltshire.
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This is a page archived from The Horse's Mouth at http://www.wellho.net/horse/ - the diary and writings of Graham Ellis. Every attempt was made to provide current information at the time the page was written, but things do move forward in our business - new software releases, price changes, new techniques. Please check back via our main site for current courses, prices, versions, etc - any mention of a price in "The Horse's Mouth" cannot be taken as an offer to supply at that price.

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