Welcome to the world of Machine Learning, where heuristics make some choices for you, and try to learn from your actions to model your future choices even better.
Microsoft Clutter is one feature that you may have noticed making its way into your daily routine. If you shop on Amazon or use Facebook or watch Netflix you already have encountered instances of algorithms attempting to pick things that you might like based on your previous behavior. Clutter is another machine learning feature that Microsoft hopes will help enhance your email experience.
According to Microsoft, Clutter “…can help you filter low-priority email, saving time for your most important messages. The email server keeps track of the email you read and the ones you don’t. Once you turn it on, Clutter is automatic. As new email comes in, it takes messages you’re most likely to ignore and puts them into the ‘Clutter’ folder. The more you use it, the better it gets. And if you find Clutter isn’t for you, you can turn it off.”
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LIT has a document regarding Clutter. ITS also has an article detailing how to change your Clutter settings via the web.
However, training Clutter might be an option too. It will take several days of training – moving messages you don’t consider Low Priority out of your Clutter folder – but eventually Clutter will learn from your choices, and probably end up doing a decent job after a while. You can also train Clutter by moving low priority email messages from your Inbox to your Clutter folder.
That is the question: should you take the time to train the Clutter algorithm in your personal preferences, or turn it off completely? Or switch between both modes and see how it goes.
It’s still your choice.