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Stop Microsoft users sending 'reactions' to email by adding a postfix header

neilzone.co.uk

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Re: Stop Microsoft users sending 'reactions' to email by adding a postfix header

#111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps it would be better to ask, how do you expect people to communicate to you those things that would be expressed as reactions?

Using words. Same as here on Hacker News.

Hacker News does have some reactions - upvote, downvote, flag.

Re: Stop Microsoft users sending 'reactions' to email by adding a postfix header

#112

Can an anti-reaction person explain what they find so distasteful about them? Is it that the other person wasn't willing to make the effort to type is seen as disrespectful? struggling to see what the problem is

I value my attention. I don't spent it on artificially generated responses. If someone wants to communicate with me I insist they put in some minimum level of effort. Before email, it took work to write a letter, which helped weed out low signal-to-noise communiques. Messages the likes of spam, LLM-generated content, and reactions go straight to my trash folder. I do view it as disrespectful (more precisely, lacking…

For what it’s worth, I’m not a big user of outlook, but I use reactions a lot in chat.

I like receiving reactions specifically because they save me time. When I get a typed message, I often take time to think through whether the sender is expecting some sort of acknowledgement (confirming that I got their message letting me know that I’m welcome to thank them again any time!) or whether it’s polite to terminate the exchange by not responding. Overall, I spend far more time than I’d like second-guessing my words. When I just get a reaction, it serves as a form of acknowledgement that doesn’t demand further response and frees me from an obligation.

Re: Stop Microsoft users sending 'reactions' to email by adding a postfix header

#113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps it would be better to ask, how do you expect people to communicate to you those things that would be expressed as reactions?

Using words. Same as here on Hacker News.

Ok

Re: Stop Microsoft users sending 'reactions' to email by adding a postfix header

#114
post #4

Oh, this is good to know! I haven't encountered this issue personally yet, but maybe once I've updated my mailserver, I won't encounter it in the future. Now to figure out how to stop the same thing happening in SMS.

You'll be glad to hear that SMS already doesn't have reactions

Liked “You'll be glad to hear that SMS already doesn't have reactions”.

It’s really the most clunky backfill that Apple chose, I suspect on purpose.

Re: Stop Microsoft users sending 'reactions' to email by adding a postfix header

#115
post #94
post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Unfortunately nothing opt in ever gets wide adoption Sharing your host's WiFi password with all your contacts should never get a wide adoption. It should never be an option anyway. It shows Microsoft's astonishing ignorance of security.

Well, actually Apple is doing something similar, and it's opt-in. If you have a contact, they are in their settings, and they're nearby and they can see your wifi network, a prompt will appear on your phone which asks if you would like to share wifi credentials with them. There's some foolery going on to stop it popping up if you're using the device normally, like you have to be in settings or the home screen - or re…

It's opt in for the person with the option to share network credentials.

It's not opt-in for the owner of the network, who should really have a say in the matter.

I do use this feature from time to time, but it's typically on networks where either I'm the owner, or the owner's given me permission to share the creds.

This also opens up an attack surface (which I got to experience firsthand on a burner device at DEF CON 31), where someone spoofs an Apple device requesting network creds. The attack itself involves spamming share requests and catching you off guard, causing you to hit OK, or you just hit OK out of notification fatigue.

Re: Stop Microsoft users sending 'reactions' to email by adding a postfix header

#116

I kind of get why we don’t like this in email, but for SMS and Slack I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reactions. They’re a way to say “I received this and have a positive reaction to it, with no further communication necessary”. Replaces a lot of useless typing I had to do to sound polite when saying “fine, no further comment”. And then getting a notification from the other party acknowledging my acknowledgment… yuck.

My friend interned at the FAA 20 years ago. He said the norm there was to write "Concur without comment." I thought that was brilliant. Of course, when I use it in conversation, no one gets my reference and thinks I am weird. But that is going to happen anyway.

Re: Stop Microsoft users sending 'reactions' to email by adding a postfix header

#117
Or, you know, you could just turf all e-mails with those "reacted to your message" Subject: headers, and not use any MS specific headers in what you send.

This reaction thing seems like a gift from Microsoft to spammers. E-mail recipients have a "like" button that instantly generates a reply, validating that the e-mail address is staffed.

Re: Stop Microsoft users sending 'reactions' to email by adding a postfix header

#118
post #65

This kinda reminds me of a feature Windows (Phone) used to have, where it would share your Wi-Fi password with the device's contacts automatically. To opt-out you had to add _optout to the SSID name. https://www.theregister.com/2015/06/30/windows_10_wi_fi_sens... It looks like this feature was removed eventually, but it's just one of those tasteless things that MS does every once in a while.

From that article: > (So if you want to opt out of Google Maps and Wi-Fi Sense at the same time, you must change your SSID of, say, myhouse to myhouse_optout_nomap. Technology is great.) I knew about the Google Maps thing, I didn't know about this. That kind of stuff is so presumptuous and user hostile it's outrageous.

Would it be better to have an op-out database, where you have to log in with a Google account, and prove that you own the device somehow using geolocation?

The system has to be resistant against bad actors taking someone else off the map who chooses to opt in.

It would be better if the syntax were simpler, like changing myhouse to __myhouse (double underscore == private identifier).

By setting SSID a certain way, you simultaneously show your intent to opt out and prove that you're the operator.

Re: Stop Microsoft users sending 'reactions' to email by adding a postfix header

#119
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, actually Apple is doing something similar, and it's opt-in. If you have a contact, they are in their settings, and they're nearby and they can see your wifi network, a prompt will appear on your phone which asks if you would like to share wifi credentials with them. There's some foolery going on to stop it popping up if you're using the device normally, like you have to be in settings or the home screen - or re…

It's opt in for the person with the option to share network credentials. It's not opt-in for the owner of the network, who should really have a say in the matter. I do use this feature from time to time, but it's typically on networks where either I'm the owner, or the owner's given me permission to share the creds. This also opens up an attack surface (which I got to experience firsthand on a burner device at DEF CO…

> It's not opt-in for the owner of the network, who should really have a say in the matter.

Why? It’s literally just a shortcut for asking for the password from someone who already has it and then having it read it out loud or texted. If the owner of the network doesn’t want that happening they need to explain that in either case.

Re: Stop Microsoft users sending 'reactions' to email by adding a postfix header

#120
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'll be glad to hear that SMS already doesn't have reactions

If you're texting with an iOS user and they use a reaction, Apple "helpfully" forwards the reaction as text. Which is OK. What I don't like is that it also quotes the complete text that the person reacted to.

You can like a message a page up, for example, and you’ll get a random “user liked your message” and be completely lost.
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