User oriented penalty count random rejection of electronic messages

1. A method for managing an electronic message, comprising:

determining a threshold based, in part, on an identity associated with a user;

determining a cumulative penalty count based, in part, on a usage of a resource by the user and the threshold; and

managing the message sent by the user, wherein the managing comprises determining whether to reject the message based, in part, on the cumulative penalty count and a status associated with the resource, and rejecting the message if the determination of whether to reject the message is affirmative.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identity further comprises at least one of an IP address of a client device and an email address employed by the user.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the cumulative penalty count further comprises:

assessing a penalty count based, in part, on the usage of the resource by the user exceeding the threshold, wherein the threshold is associated with at least one of a size of a message sent by the user, a number of messages sent by the user, and connection time of the user to a message server;

reducing the penalty count by a decay factor; and

accumulating the penalty count for each resource.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising assigning an exempt status to the user and exempting the user from receiving penalty counts for usage of the resource.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the decay factor is determined based on a time between two updates of the status and a predetermined retention period.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the status is determined based on at least one of a number of a maintained TCP connection, a number of messages in a queue of received messages, and an amount of used storage space.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining an operating state based, in part, on the status, wherein the operating state includes one of a normal operating state, a selective-rejection state, and a random-rejection state.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein managing the message in the normal operating state further comprises enabling virtually all sent messages from virtually all users to be processed.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein managing the message in the selective rejection state further comprises:

if the cumulative penalty count is about zero for the user, allowing virtually all sent messages by that user to be processed; and

if the cumulative penalty count is greater than about zero for the user:

determining a rejection factor base 4 in part, on the cumulative penalty count;

generating a random number; and

rejecting the message sent by that user based, in part, on a comparison of the rejection factor and the random number.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein managing the message in the random-rejection state further comprises:

if the cumulative penalty count is greater than about zero for the user, rejecting virtually all sent messages by that user; and

if the cumulative penalty count is about zero for the user:

determining a resource usage factor based, in part, on the usage of the resource;

generating a random number; and

rejecting the message sent by that user based, in part, on a comparison of the random number and a product of the resource usage factor with a predetermined adjustment multiplier for the user.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein virtually all sent messages by the user are processed in the random-rejection state, if the adjustment multiplier is assigned a value of about zero.

12. A message server, comprising:

a transceiver configured to receive a message from a user;

a memory configured to store a threshold and a cumulative penalty count associated with the user; and

a processor configured to perform actions including:

determining the threshold based, in part, on an identity associated with the user;

determining the cumulative penalty count based, in part, on a usage of a resource by the user and the threshold; and

implementing a random rejection policy for the message sent by the user based, in part, on the cumulative penalty count and a status associated with the resource.

13. The message server of claim 12 , wherein the processor is further configured to determine the cumulative penalty count by performing actions including:

assessing a penalty count based, in part, on the usage of the resource by the user exceeding the threshold;

reducing the penalty count by a decay factor, wherein the decay factor is determined based on a time between two status updates and a predetermined retention period; and

accumulating penalty counts for each resource.

14. The message server of claim 12 , wherein the penalty count is assessed for at least one of a size of a message sent by the user, a number of messages sent by the user, and connection time of the user to the message server.

15. The message server of claim 12 , wherein the processor is further configured to determine an operating state based, in part, on the status.

16. The message server of claim 15 , wherein the random rejection policy is implemented in a normal operating state by enabling virtually all sent messages to be processed.

17. The message server of claim 15 , wherein the processor is further configured to implement the random rejection policy in a selective-rejection state by performing actions including:

if the cumulative penalty count is about zero for the user, enabling virtually all sent messages by that user to be processed; and

if the cumulative penalty count is greater than about zero for the user:

determining a rejection factor based, in part, on the cumulative penalty count;

generating a random number; and

rejecting the message sent by that user based, in part, on a comparison of the rejection factor and the random number.

18. The message server of claim 15 , wherein the processor is further configured to implement the random rejection policy in a random-rejection state by performing actions including:

if the cumulative penalty count is greater than about zero for the user, rejecting virtually all sent messages by that user; and

if the cumulative penalty count is about zero for the user:

determining a resource usage factor based, in part, on the status;

generating a random number, and

rejecting the message sent by that user based, in part, on a comparison of the random number and a product of the resource usage factor with a predetermined adjustment multiplier.

19. A machine-readable storage medium comprising computer executable instructions configured to cause a computer to perform the actions of:

enabling a determination of an identity associated with a user and a threshold for the user based on the identity;

enabling a determination of a cumulative penalty count based, in part, on a usage of a resource by the user and the threshold;

enabling a determination of a status associated with the resource; and

enabling implementation of a random message rejection policy based, in part, on the cumulative penalty count for the user and the status.

20. A device managing an electronic message, comprising:

a means for receiving the message from a user;

a means for determining an identity associated with the user;

a means for determining a threshold for the user based on the identity;

a means for monitoring usage of a resource by the user and determining a cumulative penalty count based on the usage;

a means for determining a status associated with the resource; and

a means for implementing a random message rejection policy based, in part, on the cumulative penalty count for the user and the status.