How Cayve decides, step by step.
Every message your site receives is checked in well under a second. Cayve gathers evidence, scores it from 0 to 100, names what kind of message it is, and applies your rules. Then it tells you exactly why.
We noticed your website is not ranking on the first page and can fix that this week. Reply for a free audit.
Why
- It reads like an SEO or marketing pitch (first page, free audit).
- It asks to be contacted somewhere other than the address given.
- Sent 2 seconds after the form opened, faster than a person can fill it in.
Six kinds of evidence, one decision
No single signal decides on its own. Cayve weighs them together, so one odd detail doesn’t sink a real customer.
How the form was filled
A hidden field people never see but bots fill in. A signed token proving the message came from your page. How long the form was open, and whether the page script ran.
Who sent it
Whether the email address is real and can receive email, comes from a throwaway service or looks machine-generated. Whether it came from a server, a script or the Tor network instead of a person’s browser.
What it says
Links and link shorteners, hidden link code, wording common in scams, gambling, crypto, loans and adult spam, SEO and sales pitches, job inquiries, look-alike letters and messages in a different alphabet from your site.
What the network has seen
The same message or the same sender turning up on other Cayve sites in the last day, and messages other Cayve sites have already marked as spam.
What you’ve taught it
Senders and messages you marked as spam or as real on this site. Your corrections apply to your site straight away.
Your rules
The levels and actions you set for the site. A message is only blocked when Cayve is confident and your rules say to block it.
A score, a kind, and your rules
Every message gets a spam score from 0 (clearly real) to 100 (clearly spam) and a category. Each site has two levels in its rules.
- The hold level (50 unless you change it). At or above it, the message is held for your review.
- The act level (85 unless you change it). At or above it, and only when Cayve is confident, the action you chose for that category applies.
- Below both, the message is delivered as normal.
| Kind of message | Default action |
|---|---|
| Spam Link drops, crypto, gambling, adult and other junk. | Block |
| Scam Phishing, fake invoices and “your account will be closed” messages. | Block |
| SEO outreach “Your site isn’t on page one” pitches. Some owners want them; most don’t. | Hold |
| Sales pitch Someone selling a product or service. Often a real business, sometimes a lead. | Allow |
| Job seeker People asking about work. Real people, so let through by default. | Allow |
| Real message Customers, readers and everyone else you want to hear from. | Allow |
Shadow mode: see it work before it acts
Every new site starts in shadow mode for seven days. Cayve checks everything and records what it would have done, but lets every message through. Your messages show “would have held” and “would have blocked”, so you can judge Cayve on your own traffic.
- Switch on early from the site’s page when you’re happy.
- Or stay in shadow mode for as long as you like.
It learns from you, carefully
Your site, instantly
Mark a message as spam or as real and that sender and that message go on your site’s own lists at once. Release a held message and its sender is welcome from then on.
The network, together
When many independent sites mark the same thing as spam, every site benefits. One person’s wrong click can’t change what happens on anyone else’s site.
Privately
Learning uses scrubbed, encrypted copies with names, email addresses, phone numbers and links removed, kept up to 12 months. An owner can switch it off.
Designed to fail safe
Spam protection should never become the reason a customer couldn’t reach you.
- A form waits a second and a half at most. No answer in time means the message goes through and is checked afterwards.
- Visitors always see your success message, whatever Cayve decides.
- Going over your plan never switches protection off. The fast checks keep running.
- Nothing is deleted on a guess. Uncertain means held; blocked is kept 30 days.
See what Cayve would do on your site.
Shadow mode changes nothing on your site. Install it, wait a week, and read the decisions.