[Spambayes] Spambayes for Outlook 2000 - Suggested Improvements

[Tim Peters]

[Scott R Geelan]
> GREAT PACKAGE!
>
> I've been using it for a few days now and it works a treat!

Glad you like it!

>> From my point of view, user utility could be enhanced by:
>
> 1. allowing selected mails in the Spambayes Junk E-Mail folder to be
> permanently deleted, direct from there, instead of going to Outlook's
> Deleted Items folder, and then having to permanently delete them from
> there.

After you've selected the emails you want to get rid of, hold down a shift
key while hitting your delete key.  Outlook will delete the items directly
then, bypassing Deleted Items.  Note that if you do this by mistake, tough
luck, it can't be undone.

> 2. Allowing Spambayes to "permanently delete" messages it detects as
> spam directly from the inbox, (similar to the Outlook Rules option)
> once the user has determined that his/her spam filter has been
> appropriately trained.

I doubt this will ever be added -- deleting email is dangerous, and there's
no way to recover from a mistake.  That's why Windows grew gimmicks like the
Recycle Bin and Deleted Items, and also grew gimmicks like "shift + delete
means skip the safety net" (which works too in Explorer for deleting files
without going thru the Recycle Bin first).  It's also why SpamBayes never
deletes email:  it makes statistical guesses.  They're good guesses,
but not infallible.

Note that you can tell Outlook to, e.g., delete the content of your Spam
folder once per day (or week, or ...) automatically, if you're comfortable
with never reviewing the messages in it.  Sooner or later you *will* throw
away a message you wanted, so I don't recommend it.  You certainly shouldn't
risk it after using the system for just a few days.