what the frig?

August 31, 2005 2:30 PM

Eudora won't let me curse in my emails.

Well, it will let me curse, but it insists on putting any message with a curse word on a timed delay of 10 minutes before it'll send it. The naughty words are the usual George Carlin suspects, plus even friggin' -- which I discovered while trying to respond to an email entitled "Julianna's 34th Friggin' Birthday Party." Friggin'! (But frigging is okay.) (Also, asshole is bad, but assholes are okay.)

I am using the free, "light" version of Eudora 6.0.2 on a Mac running OS 10.3.2. I have looked at all the settings, and there isn't one called "NANNY CURSING FEATURE: ON OR OFF?" Am I missing it somewhere?

I don't mind so much that I get a dialogue box saying: "This message has language highly likely to cause offense; are you sure you want to send it anyway?" or even that Eudora flags it with three (three!) chili pepper icons to indicate that it's HOT. But the timed delay of 10 minutes really irritates me. Today I was sending emails about a friend in New Orleans who's still there -- she's being rescued, but FUCK.

I send my emails via the server that hosts my websites, Pair, but Eudora highlights the bad words before I even send them, so it appears to be an issue with Eudora rather than Pair. I suppose in a cursing emergency I could send an email and then reset my computer's clock to be 10 minutes ahead. But really.

I like the program other than this feature, and have all my emails in neat little folders, and would like to keep it. I guess I'll even pay for an upgrade if it'll let me be salty. Thank you very fucking much.

posted by lisa g to computers & internet (8 comments total)

There should be a "MoodWatch" setting somewhere in the preferences. That is how you disable it.
posted by cmonkey at 2:33 PM on August 31, 2005

Eudora still calls them "Settings" and keeps them in the "Special" menu, just to be contrary. And if you're scanning the huge list of preferences, just look for the chili pepper icon.
posted by bcwinters at 2:36 PM on August 31, 2005

Ah, that seems to do it. That setting seems a bit convoluted and hidden, but I supposed the chili pepper connection should have tipped me off.

I still can't believe the friggin' thing, though.
posted by lisa g at 2:40 PM on August 31, 2005

In Eudora 6.2, you'd open the Tools menu, click 'Options,' then find 'Mood Watch." The chili peppers are toward the bottom of the list.
posted by wryly at 2:40 PM on August 31, 2005

Yeah, the whole mood watch thing was very, very lame. While other companies dealing with email started getting concerned about spam, all Eudora thought about was cussing. The beginning of the end.
posted by bcwinters at 2:43 PM on August 31, 2005

In OS X, you can get to Eudora's settings via either Eudora>Preferences or via Special>Settings. That way it works for us old-timers who have been using Eudora since WAAAAAY back when, and also fits the UI standards for OS X.

Wryly, there is no Tools menu in the Mac version. Tools>Options is typically a Windows version of what in the Mac is (Application)>Preferences.
posted by litlnemo at 2:46 PM on August 31, 2005

I don't think the developers of Eudora intended to censor profane words. If I remember correctly, the 10-minute delay is supposed to be a cool-down period to keep you from sending your boss an email in a blinding rage, and then regretting it later.
posted by tepidmonkey at 3:18 PM on August 31, 2005

I agree. It's not a bad feature. I've been conducting electronic communication of one kind or another for the better part of 20 years. I've never once sent a message and later regretted I hadn't expressed myself more strongly. The opposite, tho....
posted by mojohand at 4:32 PM on August 31, 2005