Barry Shein wrote:
I realize this is easier in theory than practice but I wonder how much
better the whole AOL (et al) spam button would get if they ignored the
spam button unless two (to pick a number) different customers clicked
the same sender (I know, forged sender etc but something like that) as
spam in a reasonably short amount of time like an hour or a day at
most.
Well there's a problem with that too.
Lets say that you happen to need to deal with various office workers,
who just happen to be the kind of folks who hold the public they serve
in low regard and high contempt. Lets further say that these office
workers feel no obligation to obey the law or demonstrate any
consideration whatsoever for you or the trouble their callous
inconsideration actions have caused you, requiring that you repeatedly
and persistiently make contact and state your case. Lets further say
that these same office workers - who are incompetent functionaries
bewildered by that pointy thing on the screen and have zero forethought
about the consequences of their actions - decide it's easier to deal
with you by clicking 'spam' repeatedly instead of engaging in that
conversation and working twords a resolution of the problem you need to
report.
We forget here on nanog that our list participants are (usually) high
functioning people with substantial computer, technical, communications
experience and who approach their personal communications a lot
differently than the average 'end user', who has difficulty even finding
the 'on' button let alone using it to any great effect. I run into the
above described office worker stereotype on a frequent basis (the bearer
of bad news, or having to represent someone or some cause) and the
default action - spam - is almost universal amoungst these types. Just
because THEY say it's spam, doesn't mean a whole lot of anything other
than maybe you interrupted their coffee break or it would be too much
work and maybe someone else will get the message so they don't have to
do anything.
The idea of using a group of users to effectively 'vote' only works when
the group in question is comprised of reasonable people, and
unfortunately, freemail users and office workers 'protected by postini'
are the least likely candidates to make reasonable choices with votes
for spam.....
$0.02
Mike-
