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  • To change subject line or not (Was Re: [SOLVED] Re: British English has

    From Andy Smith@21:1/5 to Alain D D Williams on Tue Jan 14 02:00:01 2025
    Hi,

    On Tue, Jan 14, 2025 at 12:41:17AM +0000, Alain D D Williams wrote:
    It is not just the Subject: but also the In-Reply-To: and References: headers.
    A good MUA (mail reader) will use these to deduce what is in reply to what and
    have the ability to show an email 'thread'. I use mutt which does this.

    Most people do not use a good MUA. The email interfaces of the top three mailbox providers split threads when the subject line changes, a
    misfeature I was shocked to learn about having never used any of them.

    Based on posting stats (I do not have access to the subscriber list to
    see recipient stats) gmail is the single largest provider of mailboxes
    for users of this list.

    The argument does still stand that most archivers — including the one
    used by Debian for its lists — do better than gmail et al, though. So it comes down to inconveniencing actual list members vs future archive
    readers.

    It's all a bit too much like rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic for
    me, though.

    Thanks,
    Andy

    --
    https://bitfolk.com/ -- No-nonsense VPS hosting

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  • From Andrew M.A. Cater@21:1/5 to Andy Smith on Tue Jan 14 18:10:02 2025
    On Tue, Jan 14, 2025 at 12:53:43AM +0000, Andy Smith wrote:
    Hi,

    The argument does still stand that most archivers — including the one
    used by Debian for its lists — do better than gmail et al, though. So it comes down to inconveniencing actual list members vs future archive
    readers.


    If you are looking at the Debian lists via the web archive, for example,
    or you just look for "Debian + random subject" in Google, then you don't necessarily obtain the context of the message you are reading without
    a clear subject.

    The long and convoluted threads here on this list sometimes make it exceptionally difficult to chase down individual replies in context.
    That's the reason that the FAQ suggests changing subjects when the context changes.

    It's all a bit too much like rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic for
    me, though.


    Whatever works to clarify things, I guess, even after the event for me
    at least.

    All the very best, as ever,

    Andrew Cater
    (amacater@debian.org)

    Thanks,
    Andy

    --
    https://bitfolk.com/ -- No-nonsense VPS hosting


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