Filtering
On this Page
- A Sense of Place
- Make a folder with the group's name
- Move all the posts you already have to the folder
- Make a filter to move new posts
- Links
A Sense of Place
Where is the group? People are in different places, communicating at different times. Is that a group? In an email group we do not have the anchors of a physical place, there is no church, boardroom, café or classroom. There are no chairs, there is no white board. However there is a group.
An email group is in our imagination, the place is created with words. The group's name has to do the work done by many atoms in a physical group.
Yet those atoms are not the group. All groups have their reality in the imagination. Words, symbols and icons evoke the imagination. The use of symbols and words make the group what it is. The simple act of having all the posts in a folder with the group's name is one symbolic way to give the group a place.
It is useful for the imagination and it is basic Inbox email management.
Make a folder with the group's name
The first part of the group's email address is the short name of the group, for example:
If the address of the group is:
smalltown@yahoogroups.com
Then it makes sense to call the folder:
smalltown
Move all the posts you already have to the folder
You may know how to do this. Here are two options:
- cut and paste them
- drag and drop them
Make a filter to move new posts
It is likely that your email program can move posts automatically into the folder. The term filtering is widely used for that. Some programs call it a "Rule" or a "Message Rule". Setting up filters is a useful skill to aquire. It is essential if you join a few groups. Filters can work for personal mail and also be set up to filter junk. Each email program has its own way of creating filters. Different versions of programs do it differently. It is useful to ask in the group for details about your program, but first check the following links:
Links on the Web
-
In Microsoft Outlook 97, 98, and 2000, how do I set up
rules to handle incoming mail?
- Comprehensive and generic answer to that question.