If your spam check is showing warnings and point scores for an email that looks normal, you are likely seeing false positives generated by the spam checking tool. This article explains why these warnings appear and whether you need to act on them before sending.

Why these warnings appear

The spam check uses Apache SpamAssassin, an open-source tool maintained by a community of developers. Because of this:

• Rules are frequently updated by community contributors
• New rules can generate warnings that didn't exist before
• Many warnings are false positives that don't reflect actual spam characteristics
• Acoustic has no control over SpamAssassin rule updates

Common warning types

• No description available: A rule was triggered but has no documentation
• Incomplete list: Often a false positive related to HTML list formatting
• FP reduced [term]: SpamAssassin's own false-positive reduction rules
• Unrecognized codes: Community-created rules without clear explanations

Can you still send?

Yes. The spam checker is a recommendation tool only. It does not:

• Block your email from sending
• Determine actual deliverability to recipients
• Predict ISP spam filtering decisions

If your mailings have been sending successfully without issues, you can safely continue despite these warnings.

When to take action

Consider making changes only if:

• You are seeing actual deliverability issues, such as recipients reporting spam folder placement
• A warning clearly identifies problematic content you can fix, such as suspicious URLs
• Your email contains legitimate spam-like content that can be rephrased