[Reader-list] A REMINDER: How to tackle spam on the reader list

[Vivek Narayanan]

Dear readers of the reader list,

Please note, first of all, that I speak as an individual and not as a 
member of any organisation.

As many of you know, there have recently been many attempts to hijack 
and dumb down the discourse of the reader list. This has been done by a 
small palmful of individuals ---- some of whom post as many as five 
times a day, with comments that are, by turns, inane, shallow, offensive 
or agressive.  These individuals may have a right to their right-wing 
politics, although they are far from representative of our 1000+ mostly 
quiet or pertinent members.  However, it has become very clear to me, at 
least, that this small group of hijackers with knives is not interested 
in nuanced or complex debate, merely in sloganeering and various forms 
of aggression and sabotage. 

This upsets me, since the reader-list is normally used to a very high 
and nuanced level of discussion, as evidenced in the patient, detailed 
and endlessly fascinating postings of independent research fellows, 
whether formally funded by Sarai or not, or in the recent exchange of 
different views that began with Yousuf Saeed and Sadan Jha.  That was a 
discussion where the answers were not necessarily clear, and where the 
discussants weren't merely interested in beating down their opponents' 
views with a concerted barrage of emails.   It was the kind of 
discussion where people think carefully before they write.

This new phenomenon of windbags and Hindu terrorists hijacking the 
reader list not only upsets me, but it also bores me.  And it seriously 
clutters up my inbox.  I have a feeling that many on this list feel the 
same, and that the recent upsurge has simply meant that people 
eventually do not read any mail from the list, missing the good stuff. 

At the same time, deep in the spirit of the reader list is the idea is 
that no one should be excluded from membership or from posting.  I 
understand, and stand by that.

Those who wish to continue receiving postings from the saboteurs are, of 
course, welcome to do so.  And to respond to them, too.  I however, am 
no longer interested in reading mails from some individuals whose 
postings I don't find productive or instructional. Even if there is much 
mail on the reader list that I do want to read.

I would like to remind all of you who feel the same way that there is a 
very simple solution for individuals who would like to declutter their 
inbox from some of the unnecessary emails that drown out the valuable 
voices of the reader list.

The solution is: you can use the message filters in your email client to 
block email from certain senders, filtering by name.  This means that 
any emails from a certain name will be filtered.  Check your help files 
on how to do this.

In Gmail, click on  "create a filter", next to the search bar at the top.

In Yahoo, click on options --> filters

In Thunderbird, simply right-click on the email id at the top of the 
message and click on "create filter from this message".

If anyone else wants to give a quick tutorial on how to use filters on 
other mail programs, please do so as part of this thread.

You can set it up so that messages from all the people you don't wish to 
read or spend time deleting go straight into your "trash" folder; or you 
can create a new folder--called "bullshit", for instance-- and have 
those messages alone go directly into that folder.

No doubt the aggressors will try to respond to this message by sending 
one or twenty abusive emails.  Unfortunately, I will not be replying to 
these messages because I won't see them.  They will be in my "bullshit" 
folder.  Why not make your reader list experience simpler and less 
cluttered in this way?

And now-- I'm off to read Partha's reply to the complex, ongoing thread 
started by Yousuf Saeed in response to the Hindustan Times' article on 
"The New Muslim".  Not to mention important recent research postings by 
Jenny Chitra, Zubin Pastakia, Harilal Madhavan, Raman Chima, and many, 
many others.

With regards,
Vivek