[G4] FYI-Edit Your Reply Subject Line

[Doug McNutt]

At 07:30 -0700 8/10/12, D V wrote:
>Dear Members of the G4 list:
>
>It was written:
>
>> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
>> than "Re: Contents of G4 digest..."
>
>What does "more specific" mean?
>
>It means to put, as the subject, a description of your problem.
>
>This means you should check and edit your subject line *before* you hit the
>"Reply:" button so that a more descriptive subject will be presented to the
>other members.
>
>This what I see when you *don't* do so:
>
>> Today's Topics:
>> 
>> 1. Re: G4 Digest, Vol 93, Issue 8 (Kevin Phan)
>> 2. Re: G4 Digest, Vol 93, Issue 8 (Kristen R)
>> 3. Re: G4 Digest, Vol 93, Issue 8 (Doug McNutt)
>> 4. Re: G4 Digest, Vol 93, Issue 8 (Don Clark)
>
>Now what the heck are they talking about? What is this thread? This is
>already the G4 list, so I know that's the medium, but what's the message?
>

Generally good advice which should be heeded when originating a thread. Don Clark was in that mode and might have found an answer for his problem but also was likely to be ignored.

For the other three responses in this group the originator was obviously new or didn't understand lists at all.  He wanted to unsubscribe and didn't know how.  Changing the subject there might well have caused him to miss the instructions.

In general when reading the list in digest mode you should make an accurate copy of the message subject and then paste it into the Subject: header of your reply. Yeah the Re: [G4]... and [G4] Re: ... ordering will still remain unpredictable.

Better yet, don't use digest mode if you answer regularly.  The original messages have a Message-ID: header which your mail client will use to create an In-Reply-To: header. Those links provide for threading without requiring precise matching of Subject: lines. Quality mail clients can handle that. Digest mode makes it fail because there is only one Message-ID for a lot of threads.

Have a look at RFC2822 kept by IETF and others. The rules there are wildly violated in the interest of Corporate finances.  Sigh.
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