breaking the threads...

[Kevin O'Gorman]

I'm replying as a moderator, and top-posting to get your attention.
This thread is OT; take it elsewhere.  Further posting here may be
considered a request to be moderated or booted.


On Thu, Mar 15, 2012 at 7:53 AM, Alexander Skwar (ML)
<alexanders.mailinglists+nospam at gmail.com> wrote:
> Am 15.03.2012 15:46, schrieb Cybe R. Wizard:
>
>> On Wed, 14 Mar 2012 15:59:00 +0100
>> "Alexander Skwar (ML)"<alexanders.mailinglists+nospam at gmail.com>  wrote:
>>
>>> Am 14.03.2012 15:52, schrieb Robert P. J. Day:
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, 14 Mar 2012, M.R. wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> However, I *will change* my usage of the subject line if told so by
>>>>> the list owner/moderator, or if another participant points me to
>>>>> where the list owner has a documented directive that the subject
>>>>> lines must not be changed inside a thread. (This would be the only
>>>>> list with such rule I'm aware of, but I guess that's what a list
>>>>> owner has the right to do).
>>>>>
>>>>> M.R.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>    first, you need to get out more often as everyone else is correct
>>>> and you are wrong.
>>>
>>>
>>> Actually, that's not a correct statement. At least Liam and Basil
>>> are on a wrong track.
>>
>>
>> Not according to the mailing list 'guidelines' found here:
>> http://www.ubuntu.com/support/community/mailinglists
>> which explicitly states:
>> "When starting a new subject, do not reply to a previous email from the
>> mailing list. If you do, your email may form part of a previous thread.
>> To start a new subject, use a clean email."
>
>
> You've said that before.
>
> I'm lazy, and so I'll copy-paste my answer to this:
>
> ====================
>
>
> I think the "discussion" is about how "start a new subject" is to be
> interpreted.
>
> I think, we're quite clear, that it's bad form to hit reply, throw away
> the old bady and change the subject, while the "new" message has nothing
> at all to do with the old thread.
>
> In this case, a new mail should be sent, so that a new thread starts.
>
> But that's just _not_ what MR has done. Let's take this message:
>
> Message-ID: <4F5F8273.1010704 at gmail.com>
> Subject: I would much appreciate to be warned...
> https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-users/2012-March/258286.html
>
> Of course he changed the subject. But if you read the mail, you can
> easily see, that this is done, because the thread "evolved". From
> "disable top panel application-window menu" to something else.
>
> If we disregard, that he IMO has chosen a bad subject, he did everything
> right. This mail of his is *NOT* a new subject. A new thread should
> *NOT* be started in this case.
>
> ====================
>
>
>
>>>>    second, and more critically, you seem to be taking an amazingly
>>>> obstinate position on something that would be trivially easy to
>>>> change.  all people are asking you to do is use a new message to
>>>> start a new thread.
>>>
>>>
>>> But, if you have a look, he didn't start a new thread! The subject
>>> line is supposed to be a brief "overview" of what's in the mail.
>>> If the topic (or, maybe we might even call it "subject") changes,
>>> it's correct to change the subject contents.
>>
>>
>> That's certainly right /about replying to digest posts/:
>
>
> Is it. Okay. Thanks.
>
>
>> http://www.ubuntu.com/support/community/mailinglists
>>  "Replying to digest emails breaks the threading.
>>
>> Changing the subject
>>
>> When a reply takes the email away from the original subject, change the
>> subject line in your email. This helps people reading the mailing list
>> to identify the most relevant emails for them.
>
>
> Okay. So what's there to argue about?
>
>
>> When changing the subject, keep the original subject in brackets. For
>> example, if the original subject was 'Ubuntu rocks', your subject
>> should be 'Ubuntu could be made better (was Ubuntu rocks)'."
>
>
> Actually, it should rather be:
>
>
>        Ubuntu could be made better (was: Ubuntu rocks)
>
> Note the ":" after "was". At least that's how it always used to be done.
>
>
> Alexander
> --
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>

See the top-post.

-- 
Kevin O'Gorman, PhD