On Thu, Aug 11, 2016 at 01:54:25PM -0400, zMan wrote:
> Sure would be nice if GMail were half as good at threading as COBOL is at
> detecting recursive calls. I see TEN different threads with the same
> subject.
> 
> (Yes, I understand Message-ID and that some mailers [human or otherwise]
> remove it, thus breaking automatic threading, but for discussion
> lists--which Google already groks, as it puts these threads into Forums--it
> could use a slightly less restrictive algorithm, nu?)

I am not sure if this is gmail's fault. It seems to me, bad messages
lack the "In-Reply-To" field in their headers. Some messages from
gmail users I have inspected display this field, some do not. Without
it, most if not all MUAs (mail user agent - program to read and write
emails) cannot process threads correctly.

I spend considerable amount of time manually linking broken threads[0]
in my MUA, even before I decide if the thread is worth reading. Every
time I bless the keyboard shortcuts (never have to touch mouse to
read). These come mostly from IBM-MAIN, sometimes from one or two
other lists I am subscribed to.

A quick inspection suggests that one of the "offenders" [1] does not
send his emails via gmail, even as he comes with a gmail address. So
perhaps source of the problem lies beyound gmail's domain.

[0] To the point when I start thinking this should be computer's job.

[1] Bill Woodger, I am looking at you but I am not accusing you,
m'kay? But when I send this message, I will chase down your answer to
zMan and manually link it. Again...

-- 
Regards,
Tomasz Rola

--
** A C programmer asked whether computer had Buddha's nature.      **
** As the answer, master did "rm -rif" on the programmer's home    **
** directory. And then the C programmer became enlightened...      **
**                                                                 **
** Tomasz Rola          mailto:[email protected]             **

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