Re: Request: Anyone using bogus / "humorous" X-Message-Flag headers, could we please turn them off

On Oct 5, 2007, at 9:05 , Bill Bartlett wrote:

> Quick request to the group: we have several members who include
> bogus or
> "humorous" X-Message-Flag headers in their email messages.  Could I
> request that you _please_ turn them off?

In all practicality, a request like this is futile:
* Given the number of people on the list, you'll never get everybody
to remove "bogus"
X-Message-Flag headers
* Given it's an X- header, doesn't that mean the meaning of the value
is implementation dependent? What's "bogus" wrt Outlook may not be
wrt another mail system or client
* Doesn't this indicate that Outlook is broken (for some values of
broken)?

>   Because they come through as
> flagged messages in Outlook,  it throws off my email rules processing
> and the messages end up into the wrong groups.  (With the volume of
> email these days, I definitely need all the assistance I can get from
> things like rules processing to attempt to stay on top of it.)

I sympathize. there *is* a lot of email traffic these days (and not
just from the lists). But rather than request that others bend to
your rules, I'd think a better solution would be to find (or develop)
tools that do what you want. Whether that means better rule handling
or better understanding of various headers, it sounds like Outlook
isn't doing the job for you. Perhaps a hybrid approach would be
helpful: use another email client for mailing lists and Outlook
otherwise.

Hope this gives you some ideas.

Michael Glaesemann
grzm seespotcode net