Re: OT: May I be your dowager? (Martians)

Victor Sack wrote:

Steve Wertz <swertz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I have the most advanced newsreader around, and have it set so
that it starts a new thread when the subject changes.

Which is nonsense - and I daresay you know it better than anyone.

No, really *do* have it set that way!

No, you do not, because it is impossible. You set your newsreader to
*sort* by subject headers.

Usenet threading has always been by references, not by subject
headers.

And for the last 15 years, there have newsreaders that allow you
to split the thread if the subject changes.

A thread cannot be influenced by one's newsreader settings.

Any newsreader not threading by references is broken by definition.

That's just plain malarkey, and you know it. Why do people
change subjects? Because the subject of the thread has changed.
By your logic, all topics should be in one big thread.

Usenet threading is defined by followups, represented by references,
which are message-ids of those followups. That is what allows a thread
tree to be built. A thread is a representation of people replying to
each other, carrying on a conversation, whether changing subjects or
not. The thread tree allows one to see who replied to whom, and a
newsreader without one is nearly worthless. A new subject header in the
same thread changes nothing in this regard - it is irrelevant to
threading. To change a thread, you have to start a new thread, not just
change a subject. In fact, you can even start a new thread with an old
subject (but, the way you set your newsreader, it will appear to be a
part of the old thread).

Any subthreads, including those with a changed subject header, can be
easily set to be auto-tagged/killed in any good newsreader. You have
crippled your "most advanced newsreader around" for no good reason at
all and are now blaming someone else.

Uh-huh, whatever you say, Vic.

When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging. If you cannot do that
kind of filtering with your newsreader, get a better one instead of
dumbing it down to the level of the effectively unthreaded AOL
monstrosity - and ending up comically complaining about it. MacSOUP's
very first version, released in '94, already could be set to
auto-tag/kill subthreads, with its filtering having been otherwise
nothing at all special.

ObFood: Tonno del Chianti. It is a method of preserving meat and the
dish resulting thereof. In June and July, in Tuscany, pork is
traditionally not popular, the weather being too hot for such
calory-laden food. So, meat of suckling pigs is cooked in "vin brusco",
free-run juice from the first pressing of trebbiano and malvasia grapes.
The cooked meat is then covered with olive oil. As a result of this
procedure, the meat is supposed to acquire a "fishy" taste, hence the
name "tunny fish from Chianti".

Victor
.

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