One way to reclaim TIPS is to do it for yourself. I set up my email client to filter out posts by particular persons who regularly offend me by searching the from line to see if it contained any of their names. That was helpful, but others who could not resist the urge to set offenders straight meant I continued to see offending posts, responses, etc. But, I figured out that, too. I now also have my email client set to filter out posts if an offender¹s name appears within the post (because they are being quoted). That has fixed nearly all of it. I now only see posts with contents by an offending person if I am reading my email using a web interface.
I know I¹m probably missing some useful writing by responders. But, I¹m OK with the trade-off given I don¹t ever see anything by offenders. It may be possible for me to set up the filter so emails are intercepted prior to them appearing even on the server¹s in-box. That might be a project for holiday break. For now, I only have to worry about it in the evenings and weekends when I am liable to see email using the web interface. How to accomplish this: In Entourage (and I think Outlook operates similarly) you select from the tools menu the ³Rules² item. You select the appropriate sever situation, for me it is Mail (Exchange) but you might be using a POP or IMAP server. Ask your IT folks for help on that if you need it. Then, I click to create a new rule in which I will put two criteria. In that rule I have it examine each email to see if an offender¹s name is contained in the From field of the email. Then, I add another rule, to examine each email to see if an offender¹s name is contained in the body of the message. If either are true (because I set it to use the rule if ³any criteria are met², the message is routed to the Deleted Items folder. You¹ll need to name the rule, also. Be creative here if you like because the rule name is not meaningful to the computer. While your email client may have different specifics and terminology for accomplishing filtering, automatic routing rules, etc., every modern client has that capability. Use it and your blood pressure should drop. What I fear happening if we can¹t figure out how to manage these situations for ourselves is the death of TIPS, literally if not figuratively. Paul Bernhardt On 10/21/09 10:58 AM, "Claudia Stanny" <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > > I am violating my policy of refusing to respond to any post initiated in > response to an inappropriate off-topic post or posts that use offensive > language. > > I am saddened that TIPS has devolved into a sandbox of abusive and > semi-abusive posts. > I am offended by the posts that initiate these threads. > I am ashamed of the manner in which some members respond to these threads. > I have been ashamed of some of my own responses to these threads. > I may yet regret this response. > > However, if it serves to assist Bill in his efforts to restore civility and > purpose to the culture of this list, I will take this risk. > > Thanks, Bill, for all you have done to create this community. It has been a > beneficial component of my scholarly community over the years. If I can help > contribute to sustaining that community, I will do what I can. > > At present, I¹ve adopted silence as my strategy, but I realize that this > strategy also creates some unpleasant unintended consequences. > > Claudia J. Stanny, Ph.D. > Director, Center for University Teaching, Learning, and Assessment > Associate Professor, Psychology > University of West Florida > Pensacola, FL 32514 5751 > > Phone: (850) 857-6355 or 473-7435 > e-mail: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > > CUTLA Web Site: http://uwf.edu/cutla/ <http://uwf.edu/cutla/> > Personal Web Pages: http://uwf.edu/cstanny/website/index.htm > <http://uwf.edu/cstanny/website/index.htm> > > > > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly ([email protected]) > --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
