On 17/7/02 5:35 am, "Helen Glazer" wrote: > On 7/15/02 6:42 PM, "Entourage:mac Talk" > <Barry Wainwright <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> 'Most people' don't freak when an email you send is added to their mail >> database - how else could you read it? >> >> When the calendar invitation arrives YOU have the choice whether or not to >> accept or decline it. If YOU want to, you can have entourage add the event >> to the calendar tentatively before you respond to the email OR you can set >> it up so this doesn't happen. >> >> What is wrong with this folks? It is all in the control of the user - that's >> YOU. >> >> I really can't get my head round all the complaints. What is it people are >> objecting to?
First, thank you for a polite and rational response to the request. It is like a breath of fresh air to receive a message to this thread that discusses facts, rather than indulges in rhetoric and insult. I will attempt to respond in like manner :) > > Okay, since you asked -- first of all, I was very unnerved when the chime > went off and the task suddenly appeared on my screen. I was sure I had some > kind of computer virus. I did not appreciate that at all. Maybe Entourage > X makes sure you can decline or accept. Entourage 2001, I can tell you, > does not, if the message sits in your preview pane. The invitation goes > right to your calendar without asking your permission. Yes, most of the discussion has revolved around vX functionality. Unfortunately, most people fail to mention which version they are using, which can make it difficult (especially in a long thread like this, with many correspondents) to keep the context relevant. I can understand that receiving an unexpected reminder can be a little unnerving first time around. However, the initial panic would, I think, be soon assuaged by a little research into what happened. In v2001, the event looks a little different to the improved version in X. You are right that there is no option to accept/decline the event in the preview pane, but what does appear is a yellow banner to the message (in both it's own window and in the preview pane) which states "You have not responded to this invitation", together with the bright blue link to 'Please open & respond'. Here, there are the three buttons to accept, decline and tentatively accept. So, it is a little different in 2001, but the functionality is similar, up to this point. > > Second of all, I'm using Entourage 2001, not Entourage X, and I have looked > everywhere for the "Calendar Preferences" that will let me choose whether to > "tentatively accept or decline" invitations, and I cannot find it. Can > anyone point me in the right direction? It's not in the Calendar tab under > Preferences, nor is it in the Notification tab. I'm one of those who reads > e-mail in the preview pane. After one of you pointed it out, I did notice > the odd icon beside Harry's test message. I don't normally attend to those > icons, simply because I don't use them. You are right, there is no preference to turn it off in v2001. This is one of the many improvements that was brought in in vX. Unfortunately, development of 2001 is at an end. Whilst there may be updates to fix any serious security flaws that are uncovered, I doubt very much that there is any way to exploit this adding of calendar events to evil purposes, so I don't expect it to be changed. > > Third of all, I had to laugh at the guy with a lofty attitude who said that > we should "read the instructions." If only we actually RECEIVED a printed > set of instructions, or even a PDF manual. A point I made in one of my earlier emails on this thread - I strongly believe that the lack of understanding of this functionality is partly due to the lack of a manual that people can skim/read at their leisure. The feature is well documented in the on-line help, but I wouldn't seriously expect anyone to try and read through that! > I bought Gene Steinberg's > "Office 2001 for Mac: The Complete Reference," which is at times useful, but > despite it's name, hardly complete -- I've had lots of questions I couldn't > find answers to there. I'm sure I'm not the only one here who is not a > completist when it comes to learning software -- I figure out what I need in > order to get our job done, and if I don't use the calendar -- and I don't, > not at all so I know next to nothing about it -- and I don't need to send > invitations to people, I don't laboriously plow through the documentation. And therein lies the crux of the problem. This thread has highlighted the point that the vast majority of users use Entourage primarily for it's email functions, and only lightly use the other options available. This is no condemnation, it is a fact that some programmes we use extensively, but there are very few programmes that anyone uses to their full extent. > If that means I'm not on your "higher plane," sorry, I've got work to do. Ouch! I never claimed to be on a 'higher plane' - that was an insult thrown out by someone else (and not, incidentally, directed at me!). I freely admit that I consider myself to be a 'power user', and probably make use of and understand more of the programme than the average user, but when I offer advise, I do try to do so from the viewpoint of the average user. I have not denigrated any user (certainly not intentionally) for not knowing something I know about the programme. > Also I resent receiving unsolicited invitations from strangers. I don't > like them when they come from telemarketers, spammers, pop-up ads, or people > placing "reminders" on my computer that I did NOT have a chance to decline > or accept, but not even from people taking up my time by forcing me to stop, > look at it and decline or accept. I detest all forms of spam with a vengeance. I am on the receiving end of several hundred spam emails a week, and take some extreme measures to insulate myself from it's effects. However, I would not willingly forsake the invitation scheme within Entourage, since I do understand and use it frequently. If this episode has done anything, I hope that it has helped people to understand the feature, so they will not be so surprised and concerned next time they receive an invitation, but will know what it is and how to handle it. The only thing I would contend in the statement above it the bit where you say "placing "reminders" on my computer that I did NOT have a chance to decline..." - I have to contend that you DID have a chance to decline, but did not understand the implications of the message you received. Hopefully, that circumstance will not now recur. > > I'm with Harry on this one, I think it's offensive for someone to send this > invitation to an entire mailing list. On this point, I'm with you 200% - and implicitly with Harry as well (if that was his main point!). Invitations such as these are intended to be sent to individuals, not broadcast via a mailing list to thousands of people. I can forgive the first person to make that error, again because of their ignorance of the feature and the way it worked. I am not so forgiving of Harry himself who, after complaining loud and long about the feature on this list, knowingly and deliberately spammed the list again with another invitation. This post is likely to be my last on the subject, unless anyone is asking for serious, factual advise about the invitation feature. I sincerely hope that it has been thoroughly discussed and that many more people now understand the feature and will not be so alarmed the next time they receive an invitation, but I sincerely hope the invitation will NOT be sent through this list! Thanks for listening. -- Barry Wainwright <http://www.barryw.net> Age is a very high price to pay for maturity. -- To unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> archives: <http://www.mail-archive.com/entourage-talk%40lists.letterrip.com/> old-archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/entourage-talk%40lists.boingo.com/>
