I said that it was ironic that some people use filtering routines to add
their own subject tags to mail from lists, because if they have that much
filtering capability, they certainly have enough to file the deliveries in
separate folders. Rasmus Lerdorf answered,
| You missed the whole point here. Many people like to filter things into
| folders based on high-level topic. This may mean multiple mailing lists
| all getting filtered into the same folder.
Let me get this straight:
A person belongs to list#1 and list#2, which have similar or even overlapping
topics. OK so far. This person considers the two lists so much alike that
(s)he filters both lists to the same folder,
but when the user reads that shared folder, it's important to be able to tell
list#1's posts from those of list#2,
yet using separate folders for the two lists would distinguish them too much,
and any other information already present in the posts (such as a Sender: or
Mailing-List: header) would distiguish them either too much or too little,
but in viewing the folder where both lists' posts are filed, subject tags
would distinguish posts from the two lists to just the right degree,
and this setup is common and frequent and many people do it?
Well, if you say so. (When I want to keep two subscriptions distinct, I
filter them to separate folders in the first place.)
In that situation, a person with filtering capability might want to tag his
or her own subject lines. But it's ironic all the same, for most desire for
tagged subjects and virtually all requests for them to be added by the list
software level arise with people who have no filtering capability and who
want the list software to add tags for them. So thank you for pointing the
case out (it doesn't disprove or even contradict my previous post); however,
what subscribers ask list managers to do in running their lists is going to
get more press on a list for list managers than what subscribers do with
their own copies of posts, so far from being the whole point, that situation
is a footnote. If anything, it adds to the irony.
