Do you know how disappointing email lists are sometimes? How hard it is to
stop yourself from biting a troll? Some background is in order, I see.
Have you ever heard of the "X-header:" for email? Any header prefixed by an
"X-" is a user-defined header. It's use is intended to extend Mail User
Agent (MUA) functionality, or add tracking information from a mailing list
(i.e. X-list:).

One header, in particular, causes confusion and irritation amongst the
Microsoft Outlook (a.k.a. Micro$oft LookOut) users. The header is named
"X-message-flag:", and when you add information following the header, it is
shown by Outlook clients as a flagged message. You can include anything you
like, legitimate messages, trolls, anything. The fact of the matter is that
Outlook provides no way for their users to toggle this flag off; Outlook
will ALWAYS parse this header and raise the flagged message. It's a bit
annoying in some cases. What I've found out in the last few days is exactly
how rabid people get when they feel they're being "vandalized".

Can you believe it? Vandalized. I was quite impressed with this
accusation, and it's shortsightedness. Vandalism requires an act of
defamation or destruction of property belonging to someone else.
Technically, by copyright law, emails belong to the person who wrote them.
Obviously, the accusation of vandalism was ill placed, but it illustrates
how entirely out of hand people get over a line of text.

Anyway, references are in order:
1. AntiOutlook Page
http://www.rodos.net/outlook/

2. The post that started it all:
http://mailman.real-time.com/pipermail/tcwug-list/2002-July/000707.html

3. Off-topic threads as a result (I had to open my big mouth):
http://mailman.real-time.com/pipermail/tcwug-list/2002-July/000709.html

4. A continuation of the thread by one of the "infected":
http://mailman.real-time.com/pipermail/tcwug-list/2002-July/000719.html

I think with my personal rant, here, I can put this topic to bed.
Resolution? I can do one of two things. Ignore the rants and continue
adding my typical X-message-flag message of "Using M$ LookOut?! Wear your
virus protection!", or I can remove the header from select lists that
complaints have surfaced upon or people have requested it of me. I've done
the latter for the "tcwug" list if only to shut up the two most vocal
complainers of the list.

Frankly, I don't care either way. It never was a personal campaign of mine,
just a nice way to bring user awareness above the typical GUI point-n-click
zombies that have surfaced on the web over the last decade or so. That's
another rant for another day.

Later!

^chewie