Re: New Topic (OT: thread/reply issues)

[Philippe Lhoste <PhiLho@...>]

Rob Kendrick wrote:
> Brian Weed wrote:
>  > The email message format knows if it is a reply or not?  Very 
> interesting.
>
> Indeed.  This is what makes http://www.nun.org.uk/threading.png possible.
>
>  > I assumed that the only indication that it is a reply is when "RE:" is
>  > prepended to the subject line by the client.
>
> Nope.
>
>  > My client also does not regard my "New Topic" email as part of the same
>  > thread as the original from which I replied, since it must follow 
> threads by
>  > the subject.
>
> Lesser clients do this, because it's a lot easier.  However, it destroys 
> threading information if the subject line is changed, which isn't what 
> you might want.  (For example, I have changed the subject of this 
> posting so it actually reflects what's being discussed.)
>
> (I use Thunderbird, btw.)

Outlook [Express] are not bad clients with regard to user interface, 
ease of use, etc.

But they are well known to not follow standards 
(<http://www.xs4all.nl/~js/gnksa/> for example), whether e-mail or 
newsgroups (OE) ones. Threading is one issue, defaulting to HTML mail or 
top posting is another, bad management of signature yet another one, etc.

I see Lotus Notes isn't much better, Rici Lake often posts in HTML 
(probably forgetting to desactivate the option), resulting in bigger 
messages (twice the text plus useless HTML formating tags) and different 
display (smaller and different font), which is annoying.

Note there are some softwares aimed at improving the behavior of OE. I 
don't have link off the top of my head, but I can find them if wanted.

Of course, using Mozilla or other good e-mail software is a better 
solution (less risky as of security issues...), but sometime it is not 
an option (at work?).

To those, like me, which didn't knew how to activate threaded view of 
messages in Mozilla: the option is in View > Sort by > Threaded. I 
didn't thought of this as a sort option, rather as a display one, but 
why not.

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Philippe Lhoste (Paris -- France)
Professional programmer and amateur artist
http://Phi.Lho.free.fr
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