[extropy-chat] TECH: Message Filtering

[BillK]

On 12/27/05, Harvey Newstrom wrote:
>
> Does anybody have any other proposed solutions or objections to
> proposed solutions to add to this list?
>

Any solution that starts 'People ought to ..........' will fail. You
can't make people on mail lists follow rules. Stopping them from
insulting and flaming each other is hard enough. :)

As I see it there are several different kinds of filtering that are
required. Only one of which is the filtering of posts within a mail
list.


First:
Sp*m and virus emails have to be removed. Most ISPs, including gmail,
do a pretty good job nowadays of detecting sp*m and virus email,
moving them to a Sp*m folder and deleting viruses. I really don't know
why sp*mmers bother sending sp*m to gmail addresses as they are
automatically junked. A quick scan down the subject headers (just in
case) then you can delete them all.

For POP3 email, again most ISPs will now put a SP*M label on mail that
they detect and delete or warn you about virus-carrying email. In
addition, on your own computer you can use Bayesian filtering software
(like Mailwasher) as an additional spam detector. Your antivirus
software should also scan incoming mail for viruses.


Second:
Most people need to separate their email into different groups.
e.g. email lists, personal email, business email.
Perhaps dividing these into sub-groups.

As email accounts are free, I use a different ISP for each group.
This means checking a different source for each group, but two or
three should be sufficient.

I use Gmail for mail lists. (The volume stored there is now bigger
than the hard disk on my pc).  You could use several gmail accounts if
you wanted to subdivide all your email lists, but I find the gmail
'Label' system (folders) works fine for me.

Some people use many different email addresses to help to sort their
email, but I have never found this necessary.


Third:
Now each email source has to be classified.
The mail filters for each ISP can be used to automatically file each
source into a separate folder. For example: anything with
'extropy-chat' in the subject gets moved automatically to the
'extropy' folder. Business mail can also be automatically sorted into
separate folders, using subject keywords, or the 'From' field.
This leaves only a few 'unknowns' in the Inbox to be dealt with manually.
For POP3 email you can use the filters in your email program to do this.


The fourth and final step is the problem of filtering messages within
each folder, e.g. the extropy folder.

I suggest setting up another folder called 'extropyjunk'. Then setting
up a series of filters to automatically send unwanted extropy mail to
this folder.
The filters would be two-rule filters.
e.g. If (Subject contains 'extropy-chat') AND (Subject contains 'bush'
OR 'impeachment' OR 'qualia') then send to extropyjunk folder.
You can also combine this with your favorite killfile names.
e.g. If (Subject contains 'extropy-chat') AND (From contains 'Satan'
OR 'McGillycuddy') then send to extropyjunk folder.
You can also use whitelist names of posters you like.
e.g. If (Subject contains 'extropy-chat') AND (From contains 'Jesus'
OR 'God') then send to extropy folder.
You can probably think of more rules for yourself.  ;)

The filters do all the sorting for you, presenting you with two
folders of extropy mail, one which you read and one which you can
glance over the subject headers and delete or read as you wish. Delete
them all if you are busy. If you decide to keep one, just move it
across from extropyjunk to extropy after you've read it.

It does take a bit of work initially to set up all these automatic
filters, but once done it works like a dream. You'll be amazed at the
difference it makes if you still get hundreds of emails unsorted in
your Inbox everyday.


BillK