kenberg Posted March 17, 2012 Report Share Posted March 17, 2012 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? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HighLow21 Posted March 17, 2012 Report Share Posted March 17, 2012 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awm Posted March 17, 2012 Report Share Posted March 17, 2012 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenberg Posted March 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 17, 2012 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winstonm Posted March 17, 2012 Report Share Posted March 17, 2012 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.) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenberg Posted March 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2012 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. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barmar Posted March 18, 2012 Report Share Posted March 18, 2012 Sounds like Google's equivalent of "TiVo thinks you're gay". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barmar Posted March 18, 2012 Report Share Posted March 18, 2012 My guess is that it's comparing the words in the email to messages you've sent and/or searches you've done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winstonm Posted March 18, 2012 Report Share Posted March 18, 2012 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HighLow21 Posted March 18, 2012 Report Share Posted March 18, 2012 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winstonm Posted March 18, 2012 Report Share Posted March 18, 2012 I assume this is Cthulhu stuff. My references are not that obscure. :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chas_P Posted March 19, 2012 Report Share Posted March 19, 2012 Try sending it from an account named Michael Remy and see what happens. Probably not much since the guy's name was Michael Rennie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winstonm Posted March 19, 2012 Report Share Posted March 19, 2012 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. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackshoe Posted March 19, 2012 Report Share Posted March 19, 2012 Hollywood's actions are highly susceptible to Sturgeon's Revelation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjbrr Posted March 19, 2012 Report Share Posted March 19, 2012 (edited) I stand - well, actuall sit - corrected. Thanks. Btw, the 2008 remake sucked. Without Patricia Neal, it pretty much had to suck, though. :D I read this post and thought of Patrice O'Neal and thought I'd share. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNqVC4cRxeQ Edit: RIP Edited March 19, 2012 by jjbrr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mycroft Posted March 19, 2012 Report Share Posted March 19, 2012 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) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HighLow21 Posted March 19, 2012 Report Share Posted March 19, 2012 I read this post and thought of Patrice O'Neal and thought I'd share. Edit: RIPI 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... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helene_t Posted March 19, 2012 Report Share Posted March 19, 2012 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxx Posted March 19, 2012 Report Share Posted March 19, 2012 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........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenberg Posted March 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2012 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barmar Posted March 21, 2012 Report Share Posted March 21, 2012 I was unaware that this had been elevated to a Revelation. I first heard it as:I've generally heard it called Sturgeon's Law. Is a relevation higher than a law? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackshoe Posted March 22, 2012 Report Share Posted March 22, 2012 Sturgeon's Revelation is what Sturgeon himself called it. Sturgeon's Law is something else, although people frequently call the Revelation "Sturgeon's Law". I first heard about it in an article written by another SF author, whose name escapes me. Among other things, he said Sturgeon was a gentleman of the old school, who used the word "crud" in his formulation of the Revelation, "crap" being a word he would not use in public. :ph34r: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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