Too many overflows reporting Gmail spam
https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/05/too-many-overflows-reporting-gmail-spam/
What does the humble ⋮ symbol mean to you?
To geeks, it is a compelling attraction. Something cool and esoteric lives in there! All sorts of goodies to explore and configure.
To normal people, it is invisible. Normal people don't go pushing random icons on their apps because computers are fragile and may break if you do the wrong thing.
To me, it is a sign that product managers are a menace and must be stopped. A hundred thousand icons vying for your attention have been stuffed away because no one has the authority to prioritise user needs.
As a | user who has received some spam
I want to | easily report it as spam
So that |
Google's AI can become ever strongermy inbox is easier to manage
How do you report spam? On the web, it is possible if you're prepared to enter the forbidden lair of ⋮. Click the one nearest the message and you'll see:
But there is no "report spam" button in the Gmail app. Try to find it. I promise you it isn't there.
No, not even behind the door of mysteries which is ⋮. See:
Ah ha! FOOLISH USER!! You thought that you could transfer a mastered skill from one environment to another? You are an idiot. A buffoon. The Eloi at Google mock your Morlock ways.
Here is the report spam button in the Gmail app - hidden in the top ⋮ menu!
And, just for completeness, here's what the top ⋮ on the web has.
Why?!
Why do the Monkey-Punchers at Google have such scorn for its users? Is it because their illegal monopoly means they don't have to compete for users? Do their perverse internal politics only reward employees for adding features, not removing them? Perhaps the web team and the app team are engaged in holy war around a doctrinal schism over icon placement?
We may never know.
OK, but why?
Why do the overflows on the web have icons but on the Android app they're barren?
Why is the order of the options completely different on both?
Why are the names different for the same functions?
We can only assume that the web team are Montagues and the app team Capulets.
What is going on?
Moving a UI from the big screen to the small screen is difficult. Some options aren't relevant in either context. Some labels are too big. Some prioritisation needs to happen. I accept that.
But users only have limited cognitive plasticity. They have a mental model of how a UI works and they expect it to be reasonably consistent.
I keep making the same mistake. Whether I'm on the web or app, I always go to the wrong option! This makes me feel like an idiot. I have a hundred apps to use, each with subtly different UIs - I can't be expected to keep them all straight. But I do expect the a common set of paradigms if the services are under the auspices of a single company.
Why are there two ⋮ menu options? I think the top relates to the conversation whereas the second relates to the specific message? But maybe I'm wrong.
Two out of three ain't bad
I lied earlier. There's a third way to report spam.
On the web, hover over one of the mysterious small icons - the ones with ridiculously thin lines and low contrast - and you'll be rewarded with this:
Make it make sense!!
