[Reader-list] HOW-TO: Filter out that Bad Karma, baby!

[Menso Heus]

How to filter out that Bad Karma, baby!

or: client-side filtering to prevent unwanted email 
    from bothering you.
 
The following text is a brief yet usuable description 
on how to filter e-mail in various, commonly used mail 
software. Unfortunately my system is already running 
Outlook 6, so I cannot provide a detailed description 
on how to do this in earlier versions. 
The options are present there already too though, and 
are called "Mail Rules" or "Inbox Assistant" I believe. 
They are pretty much self explanatory. 

It describes Outlook Express Client version 6, Hotmail 
and the procmail mail filtering software. Persons that 
can provide instructions on Yahoo and other popular 
systems are welcome to as I see great rising demand for 
these features :)


IN OUTLOOK VERSION 6:
Click "Tools" menu -> Message Rules -> Blocked Sender List

Click on the "Add" button in the new window that appears.

Fill in the email address from which the Bad Karma 
originates, for example: someone at t-online.de
Click OK

As you can see the source of the Bad Karma is now showing
up in the Blocked Senders List, click OK again to close 
this window.
Messages that are coming from where the Bad Karma originates
are now automatically moved to the "Deleted Items" folder!


IN HOTMAIL:
After logging in click on the "options" button next to
the folder tabs.

Then, in the "Mail handling" column in the middle of the 
page that now appears, choose the option "Block Sender".

On the page that then loads fill in the email address from
which the Bad Karma originates, for example:
someone at t-online.de

After you filled this in, click the "Add" button and then 
press the "Ok" button.
* Note that messages handled by this filter are deleted before
delivery (hurray!) and thus will not even show up in your 
deleted items folder!


IN PROCMAIL:
(common mail filtering system on Unix machines)

Edit the .procmailrc file in your home directory. Add the following
to the top of rules so that it gets processed first before it might
be copied to specific mailinglist folders.

:0:
* ^(From:).*someone at t-online.de
/dev/null

This will move the file to the Infinite Infinity, also known on Unix
systems as /dev/null. Do not worry about the amount of Bad Karma the 
system can take, experts whisper that the amount is infinite!


NOTE: 
Client-side filtering on mailinglists is generally not a nice thing 
to do since it prevents discussion from taking place. Yet one must 
understand that the path of discussion is beset on all sides by the 
inequities of the selfish, and the tyranny of evil men. 
Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and goodwill, shepherds the 
discussion through the valley of stupidity, for he is truly the mail 
filter user and finder of thoughts lost in traffic. 
Yet the filter will strike down with great vengeance and furious anger
upon those who attempt to poison and destroy discussion! And you will
know it *works* when you find your mailbox free again. [1]


So, keep that funky flow of things moving and perhaps enjoy your 
new mail settings!

Menso


[1] Obviously based on Tarantino's version of "Ezekiel 25:17" 
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Anyway, the :// part is an 'emoticon' representing a man with a strip 
of sticky tape across his mouth.   -R. Douglas, alt.sysadmin.recovery
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