> I think my basic complaint is that we can't take advantage of the
> diversity
> out there without killing ourselves with traffic noise in the attempt.
> Of course moving the same concepts to the Web isn't going to solve
> that. I
> think we need much more subtle tools to do that. I was trying to
> think out
> loud about what they might be.
>
I heard of a proprietary discussion list server
used internally within ICL to discuss tech support with an interesting
feature in this connection. Everyone on the list gets to see the
first posting for a new thread and if they are interesed in this
registers the fact with the list server by asking to have further
messages in that thread sent to them. Possibly this could be handled
by forwarding an empty message with same or similar (within
certain bounds) subject line to the listserver. So if the
list generates say 10 new threads a day, recipients need only
receive 10 messages - plus followups to the threads which
interest them.
Usefulness of this protocol would depend upon those continueing
a thread renaming it when the topic discussed diverges
sufficiently to justify a new named thread.
Richard Kay
