Re: [Asrg] Adding a spam button to MUAs

Alessandro Vesely <vesely@tana.it> Fri, 18 December 2009 08:13 UTC

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Date: Fri, 18 Dec 2009 09:15:21 +0100
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Subject: Re: [Asrg] Adding a spam button to MUAs
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Dave CROCKER wrote:
> On 12/17/2009 12:06 PM, Seth wrote:
>> We don't know that it _will_ be the worst case.  To the extent there
>> are _some_ users who can tell the difference (and the admin can tell
>> the difference between them and other users), having two buttons gives
>> better information.
> 
> unless there are _some_ users who are more confused by the choice.  UI 
> complexity is not reduced by having more buttons; reducing complexity 
> leads to better UI, particularly for the mass market.

For homogeneity of behavior, I'd note that the buttons resulting in 
sending a message out --Reply, Forward-- open a dialog that shows 
the recipient(s) and the content being sent.

For TiS buttons, older discussions seem to indicate that we don't 
want users to type text. (Therefore, well aimed complaints intended 
for manual evaluation would still go via the Forward button.) 
However, the dialog could sport checkboxes or radiobuttons set up 
according to, say, presence of List-Unsubscribe or 
Authentication-Results headers. Users may adjust these flags before 
hitting Send.

If we want to feed Bayesian filters, we need a spam/ham button.

If messages classified as junk by client filters are automatically 
reported as spam, this circumstance should be flagged on the 
outgoing abuse reports.

> as nathaniel notes, these types of design choices for UI design require 
> testings.

Yes, and I expect users behavior under traditional MUAs will be 
somewhat different from that of web interfaces users. I'd also 
expect behavior to vary widely among different mail domains.