Re: user-visible goals

Hi Keith;-)...  Some of these have undesirable social relations consequences. 

I have selected out some with unwanted effects that I know something about.

These come under the heading of "Be careful what you wish for!  Might Get It!

At 21:40 -0500 2/1/04, Keith Moore wrote:

>With those in mind, here's a stab at it:
>
>- Users want to be able to read mail without seeing a significant amount 
>  of spam.  (to a recipient, "spam" is basically anything that the 
>  recipient doesn't like that was sent by anyone except a person known 
>  personally to the recpient)

This one needs careful review.  It is not universally true.  In particular,
I have often sent mail to Keith that he detested, but it was on the topic 
under group discussion and was not spam.  

>- Users want to be able to recall messages that have been sent but
>  not yet read.

This one creates some interesting possibilities for causing friction among colleagues.  If you sent something to my USPS mailbox, and then came by my 
house to retrieve it from my mailbox before I removed it, and then make an 
issue of it sometime later, I think I would have grounds to claim you stole 
it from my mailbox.  So, that a minimum, I as recipient must have a way to 
block such theft.  My rule is that when you send something to me in the mail, 
it belongs to me, and to no one else.  I believe that legally the USPS rule 
is that as soon as it falls into the corner mail pickup box, it belongs to 
the recipient, not to the sender.  This one needs further investigation.

>- Users want to be able to send messages that will be disappear
>  if not read before some interval  (expiration)

This one opens doors to some nasty tricks, like using it to find out without detection that someone is not in his office when expected to be there, without 
any further investigation. 

Additional Note:  I once worked with an X.400 software outfit, where the 
director of development bragged to me about how he sent a message to each 
of his employees before daily start time, and watched what time they opened it.
He did not inform them of his tricky management practice. 

My preference is, if you want a damn time clock, then buy one and install it, 
and openly require its use by your employees. -- Just one of my little hang-ups! 
I do not suffer tricky managers easily;-)...   I am sure others of us exist!

Cheers...\Stef