Telling automated and bulk-mailed origin from a personal message

It often matters whether a message was typed and sent by one person or fired out by automated software. The headers usually give it away, and the report distinguishes the two.

Bulk and automated mail tends to leave traces such as:

• X-headers stamped by mass-mailing platforms and campaign software.
• Message-IDs and formatting patterns characteristic of a sending engine rather than a desktop mail client.
• Routing through shared bulk-sending infrastructure.
• Signs of list-based or templated dispatch.

A genuine one-to-one email from a personal or business account looks quite different from a campaign or a script. Knowing which you are dealing with shapes your response — a personal harasser is a different problem from an automated phishing run, and the report tells you which pattern the evidence fits.