> I understand what you're saying and why. But, a good number of people do > not use thread capable clients, or do not use this feature. So, is it > better to make it easier on those who do, or those who don't? How do you > make the judgement call? >
It is not a case of easier or not. If you can make a case that replying to a message, deleting the body, and deleting the subject, is easier than just typing in the mail list address, I'm all ears. > I agree that it is bad form to hijack a thread (i.e reply to an existing > message to easily select the TO address, but change the subject and body to > be unrelated to the original message). But having been on a number of > mailing lists, it happens occasionally, and sometimes on purpose, or with > good reasons. It is common practice as well to change the subject when a > thread is being changed to a different subject to something like "Subject: > New subject (was old subject)". But this doesn't happen every time. > It is also a common practice of public mail lists to state that hijacking threads is unacceptable . > My personal opinion (again) is that if you choose to use the threading > features of a mail client, then you must accept that thread hijacking will > and does happen, and deal with it. Those who do not use threading features > (or have a mail client capable of it), must accept that messages aren't > conveniently grouped, and develop some skill and/or patience in following a > thread. There's pro's and con's either way, but dictating how someone > should be using their tools (in this case the mail client, and the mailing > list) is not the answer. Open Source is all about choice. It is not dictating how to use tools. I would say it is helping others to properly use them. What would you say are pros to hijacking a thread? What choice are you talking about. The choice of email clients? That is not the issue. I would say it is either not knowing general accepted behavior, or ignoring it. Andy P.S. http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html _______________________________________________ clug-talk mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca
