[imp] Some of our users are loosing their mails.

[Michael M Slusarz]

Quoting ANANT S ATHAVALE <asa at isac.gov.in>:

> ----- Message from Michael M Slusarz <slusarz at horde.org> ---------
>    Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2014 23:33:54 -0700
>    From: Michael M Slusarz <slusarz at horde.org>
> Subject: Re: [imp] Some of our users are loosing their mails.
>      To: imp at lists.horde.org
>
>> Quoting Simon B <simon.buongiorno at gmail.com>:
>>
>>> On 20 Feb 2014 05:54, "ANANT S ATHAVALE" <asa at isac.gov.in> wrote:
>>>> Dear List,
>>>>
>>>> The users are using horizontal view.  They click on a message and it
>>>> gets
>>>> displayed at the bottom half.  This also makes check box left to that
>>>> message getting selected.
>>>>
>>>> Now, they scroll down to see some other mails and while viewing, they
>>>> decide to select some mails which can be deleted without even
>>>> opening/seeing.  So, they do it by checking/clicking on the check box
>>>> and
>>>> by now, they have already forgotten that, there is one message on the
>>>> top,
>>>> which is already selected as it was being viewed.
>>>>
>>>> Now, they click on Delete.  So, this makes one extra mail getting
>>>> deleted,
>>>> though they don't intend to delete it.
>>>>
>>>> Though, I feel, it is the user who is doing the mistake, but, how to
>>>> avoid
>>>> this happening, even unknowingly.
>>>> --
>>>
>>> There's a confirmation preference isn't there?  To have a pop-up
>>> confirming
>>> deletes?  Turn it on and lock it?
>>
>> And/or use a trash mailbox.  So it is not a destructive action.
>>
>> michael
>> --
>>
>> ___________________________________
>> Michael Slusarz [slusarz at horde.org]
>>
>> --
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>
> ----- End message from Michael M Slusarz <slusarz at horde.org> -----
>
> The main problem is, they should immediately realise that, they have
> deleted a mail accidently.  The users would have either setup Trash
> cleanup policy or they may be cleaning up on their own. Realilsing the
> mistake later is a problem.

At some point, a user has to accept responsibility for pressing the  
delete button.  You can't make deleting a process that takes seconds  
every time you do it or else the user wont use your program.

IIRC, there was a study somewhere that indicated that the confirm  
delete file message in Windows was absolutely worthless.  After the  
first few times it was viewed, people just clicked OK blindly to  
remove the modal popup whether they meant to delete the message or  
not.  The popup did nothing to warn them - it was just an annoyance.

Same here.  The Trash mailbox exists for precisely this purpose  
(analogous to the recycle bin on Windows).  Users know to search there  
if they accidentally remove something.

I don't see the need for a modal popup warning in Trash mailbox  
either.  If people are individually deleting messages from the Trash,  
they have gone out of their way to go into there, select individual  
messages, and click Delete.  This is *2* times they have indicated  
they want to delete that message.  If that is not confirmation that  
they really want the message deleted, then nothing is. (Again... a  
modal popup is NOT going to help here for the same reasons as stated  
above.)

Or else you can simply disable deletions in the Trash mailbox and rely  
on a logintask/cron job to periodically clean out the trash.  Then  
users could never permanently delete messages on their own.

michael
-- 

___________________________________
Michael Slusarz [slusarz at horde.org]