[kenberg]

For some time now Google has been adding a line that apparently is supposed to help me prioritize my gmail. I just got a message with the addendum

"Important mainly because of the words in the message."

What am I supposed to make of this? What should I make of it when this assessment of importance does not appear?

[HighLow21]

Wow. So google is now using its ranking technology to search the contents of your email and make an assessment of whether it's important. That's awesome and invasive at the same time.

I have no idea how to take it if it's there or not there, because I've never seen this message myself.

[awm]

Google has, for quite some time, marked "important" messages with gold stars. You can see this in your mailbox. It's similar to the spam-filtering technology.

All that's changed is adding the line explaining why certain things are marked important.

[kenberg]

Fine, but I am still not sure how it would decide that the words that are used make it important. I would expect the words that are used would strongly affect the importance of almost all messages. I suppose in the case of some people it is of no importance what they say, but I hope these messages are in a minority.

[Winstonm]

kenberg, on 2012-March-17, 16:35, said:

Fine, but I am still not sure how it would decide that the words that are used make it important. I would expect the words that are used would strongly affect the importance of almost all messages. I suppose in the case of some people it is of no importance what they say, but I hope these messages are in a minority.

I think when the phrase "Klaatu barada nikto" is included in the e-mail, Google considers those important words because the world as we know it could end.

(I deserve bonus points as this is the second time in 3 years I've been able to reference the phrase, "Klaatu barada nikto" in the water cooler, not as easy feat.)

[kenberg]

As an experiment, I sent the message

Klaatu barada nikto

to myself from another gmail account, also in my name.


Google assessed it as
Important mainly because of the people in the conversation.

So I am important but what I say is not. Dissed by my gmail account.

[barmar]

Sounds like Google's equivalent of "TiVo thinks you're gay".

[barmar]

My guess is that it's comparing the words in the email to messages you've sent and/or searches you've done.

[Winstonm]

kenberg, on 2012-March-17, 18:54, said:

As an experiment, I sent the message

Klaatu barada nikto

to myself from another gmail account, also in my name.


Google assessed it as
Important mainly because of the people in the conversation.

So I am important but what I say is not. Dissed by my gmail account.

Try sending it from an account named Michael Remy and see what happens. Of course, you would need to send it to an account named Gort.

[HighLow21]

Winstonm, on 2012-March-17, 17:33, said:

I think when the phrase "Klaatu barada nikto" is included in the e-mail, Google considers those important words because the world as we know it could end.

(I deserve bonus points as this is the second time in 3 years I've been able to reference the phrase, "Klaatu barada nikto" in the water cooler, not as easy feat.)

I assume this is Cthulhu stuff.

[Winstonm]

HighLow21, on 2012-March-18, 13:09, said:

I assume this is Cthulhu stuff.

My references are not that obscure.

[Chas_P]

Winstonm, on 2012-March-18, 10:12, said:

Try sending it from an account named Michael Remy and see what happens.

Probably not much since the guy's name was Michael Rennie.

[Winstonm]

Chas_P, on 2012-March-18, 18:42, said:

Probably not much since the guy's name was Michael Rennie.

I stand - well, actuall sit - corrected. Thanks.

Btw, the 2008 remake sucked. Without Patricia Neal, it pretty much had to suck, though.

[blackshoe]

Hollywood's actions are highly susceptible to Sturgeon's Revelation.

[jjbrr]

Winstonm, on 2012-March-18, 18:55, said:

I stand - well, actuall sit - corrected. Thanks.

Btw, the 2008 remake sucked. Without Patricia Neal, it pretty much had to suck, though.

I read this post and thought of Patrice O'Neal and thought I'd share.



Edit: RIP

This post has been edited by jjbrr: 2012-March-18, 20:52

[mycroft]

heh - I prefer: Klaatu barada...Necktie!
(it was, among other things, the "you have failed to log in" message on UWaterloo CSClub's server at the time)

[HighLow21]

jjbrr, on 2012-March-18, 20:52, said:

I read this post and thought of Patrice O'Neal and thought I'd share.

Edit: RIP

I knew Patrice O'Neal, just like I knew Greg Giraldo, from my days scouting the comedy club circuit in NYC. Both guys were really nice and extremely funny, and both died way too young. Such a shame...

[helene_t]

At first I was skeptical towards this "importance" feature but for my private email it soon appeared to be highly accurate. My private email is full of semi-spam (like mailing lists that I subscribe to just in case they may once in a blue moon contain something interesting. It is nice to have those non-important things marked as such.

For my business email it is entirely useless. But then again, almost everything I receive in my business account is important. So I don't need the feature much.

[Foxx]

mycroft, on 2012-March-19, 10:04, said:

heh - I prefer: Klaatu barada...Necktie!
(it was, among other things, the "you have failed to log in" message on UWaterloo CSClub's server at the time)

Oh dear, you've got me going now.....

KLAATU..... BORADA...... . . . . . . . Necktie........ Nickel......... What was that last word? It was definitely an N word........

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . *AHEM* *ahem*

KLAATU!........... BORADA!........... N-*cough*-*cough*-*ahem*-*ahem*-*cough*!!

. . . . . . .

There....... that should do it....... I said the words........

[kenberg]

blackshoe, on 2012-March-18, 19:56, said:

Hollywood's actions are highly susceptible to Sturgeon's Revelation.

I was unaware that this had been elevated to a Revelation. I first heard it as:

A guy comes up to Sturgeon at a party and says "Ninety percent of Science Fiction is crap". Sturgeon replies "Ninety percent of anything is crap".

I have often had occasion to refer to this pithy observation.

In the case of Hollywood, we might want to alter the percentage figure.