KKJensen,
Using the black-hole list servers does in fact play a role in the filtering process. I'm not entirely sure to what extent however.
Utilizing the black-hole servers AFAIK is the LAST STEP in the MailWasher filtering process. If the FirstAlert! service or statistical analysis analyzes mail as spam, it is more than likely not going through any of the black listing services that are configured. You can however, according to some of the documentation I've read, opt to utilize the same black listing services in sendmail instead of using MailWasher to query them first.
That being said, I cannot confirm or even assume how that can be accomplished as I am NOT a sendmail fan or an expert on sendmail. I do know that that question has been asked on the FireTrust MailWasher forums.
There is a good possibility that some of the advanced topics and questions would be better answered on their forums, which are located at
http://www.firetrust.org/phpBB2/.
Lastly, I will say that if 60% of your mail is being identified as spam by the FirstAlert! service, and you've been submitting samples to them, you are helping your spam filter out. I am a paying subscriber and am quite happy with their service.
In the original post, I mentioned that the FirstAlert! service is optional and that it is a pay service with reasonable corporate pricing plans. This service contributes to the well being of the entire project as well as allows you to compare local spam with a much larger spam database.
Without sounding like a commercial or an ad, please support all open source projects as much as possible.
Hope That Helps!