A detailed explanation of the scoring mechanism used by TwitBlock.
Some people have complained that they get a high spam score and point out that they are not spammers. There are a number of important things to note about this.
- This software is in alpha – these indicators and the scoring mechanisms attached to them will change.
- As the system gathers data it will rely less on heuristics and more on cross-referencing (e.g. how many people have blocked an account)
- Some of these tests are only indicators of automation, not specifically of malicious behaviour.
- The spam rating has no limit – Scoring 40 may be high for a “legimate” account, but in a list with real spammers scoring 300+ you’ll be way down the bottom.
- If you display characteristics of a spammer then perhaps this amounts to the same thing as being a spammer. Most normal users score zero.
Roughly in order of accuracy, here are the 8 tests currently performed in the standard TwitBlock scan.