RE: hijacked threads

[James Rich <james@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sun, 6 Jun 2004, jt wrote:

> This is a dysfunction in MailMan software, not a people problem.  Iow, if
> the software can't match up by subject line, then who's fault is that?  Even
> worse, using MailMan as a data store is..

It is not the list archive software that we should blame.  It is perfectly
valid to have a series of related email messages (that's what a thread is)
that have changing subjects.  To match emails simply by subject may often
give correct results, it is by no means fully inclusive.

An example is this:  suppose someone receives the list mail in digest
mode.  When they reply to an email, the subject by default does not
contain the original subject line, but rather something saying "midrange-l
digest DATE".  Often the person replying forgets to change the subject
line back to something relevant.  When someone else responds to their
response, they may very well (as they should) change the subject line to
match the topic.  But if the list software matched only by subject line
the threaded nature would be lost.

James Rich

Vs lbh guvax bs argjbex frphevgl nf na vzzhar flfgrz, Jvaqbjf vf UVI.
        -- Wbr Cyhgn