Re: Posting & Threads (Ongoing conversations)

(Hardtime <hardtime11@xxxxxxxxxxx> uttered:)
Actually, no. If the newsreader you post with handles the
References: header properly, you can do whatever you want with
the Subject line when you reply and the thread will remain
unbroken. And if the newsreader you read news with isn't
threading posts by the References: header, then either it is
broken, or your configuration of it is broken.

I have mine sorting by Subject line and variation that way it really
consolidates the thread and enters reply's according to time and
message follow up at the same time. It is not broken but it does look
at the entire subject line unlike other (free?) readers that only look
at the first word.

It *is* broken, and what I'm telling you is that (it|you) shouldn't be
sorting by Subject line. You should be sorting by References.

Here's how the References header works. Say you start a new thread in
the group, posting a message with Message-ID <1234@hardtime>. The
References and Message-ID headers for that message will look like this:

Message-ID: <1234@hardtime>
References:

If I then reply to that message, say with Message-ID <4567@shadowspar>,
my newsreader will update the References header to show that this
message should be threaded as a subtree of your original:

Message-ID: <4567@shadowspar>
References: <1234@hardtime>

And if you reply to that, then your response will have:

Message-ID: <89AB@hardtime>
References: <1234@hardtime> <4567@shadowspar>

Now say Volt replies to the last message you posted (<89AB@hardtime>)
and Jeff replies to your original and to my message. That'll give
three messages as follows:

Message-ID: <XYZZY@volt>
References: <1234@hardtime> <4567@shadowspar> <89AB@hardtime>

Message-ID: <BIGDOOD@goslin>
References: <1234@hardtime>

Message-ID: <DEADBEEF@goslin>
References: <1234@hardtime> <4567@shadowspar>

And from this you can see exactly how they're supposed to be threaded.
Every message should be `below' any message it mentions in the
References line when the thread tree is built. So here we get:

<1234@hardtime>
|
+---<4567@shadowspar>
| |
| +---<89AB@hardtime>
| | |
| | +---<XYZZY@volt>
| |
| +---<DEADBEEF@goslin>
|
+---<BIGDOOD@goslin>


All this has nothing to do with the Subject: line; you could change
it every post if you wanted.

Every decent newsreader threads by References by default. You should
try to get yours to. If it can't, trade it in for a better one.



I use the killfile and filters for a lot of things but remember when
you killfile someone or something and someone responds to it after it
is gone you lose what the response is actually in response to. I mean
the actual comment the brought about the response you made and the
context might not be there.

If you want to look at the messages that are culled by your killfile,
there's no real point in having one, is there?


Disagree. My preferred newsreaders (tin and slrn) are excellent
and they're both free (`free as in beer' as well as `free as in
speech'.)

When did beer become free?

Sorry if you're not familiar with those two idioms. They're used to
try and separate the two different concepts that English confusingly
uses the same word for. "Free as in beer" means gratis -- available
without paying any money. "Free as in speech" means free as in
freedom -- you can get a hold of the source code, modify it, and
redistribute your modifications.




Rick
--
key CF8F8A75 / print C5C1 F87D 5056 D2C0 D5CE D58F 970F 04D1 CF8F 8A75
The SSH client is pretty good, it is free, and it is illegal in the US!
A winner all around!
:Steven Skovran
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Posting & Threads (Ongoing conversations)
    ... The posts are very similar and it is almost always a group that all ... You should be sorting by References. ... Here's how the References header works. ... is gone you lose what the response is actually in response to. ...
    (rec.sport.paintball)
  • Re: OT: May I be your dowager? (Martians)
    ... of yours and tell me why the hell they lack any references and appear to ... those of us who have a newsreader capable of starting a new ... Usenet threading is defined by followups, represented by references, ... Saint Bertille Herb Soup ...
    (rec.food.cooking)
  • Re: The philosophical Turkey: The difference between verification and
    ... response to his essay has been on my website for almost two years. ... If I am providing the references, why should I need to present ... and claims that they support a model which flatly ... Why should I need to present "relevant quotes"? ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Book review: The Twilight of Atheism (Alister McGrath)
    ... >> <Clip a lot of stuff complaining that the references I cited do not prove ... >> the point you were, I assume, objecting to. ... >> objecting to the statement you are responding to since your response was ... >> simply an insult to the original author and hade no substantive content.> ...
    (rec.arts.books)
  • Re: Converting Magnesium Sulphate to Magnesium Chloride?
    ... despite being given ample references and names that you ... response, being so busy pushing back the frontiers of learning, and so ... Scientific and medical orthodoxy has over the course of the growth of ... Gullible idiot and candidate for the "Darwin Award", ...
    (sci.chem)