HiJacking Threads -- apology & new (OT??) question

Beartooth Beartooth at swva.net
Sat Jan 3 20:38:40 UTC 2009


On Sat, 03 Jan 2009 20:15:51 +1930, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
	[...]
> It's worth pointing out that RFC-standard threading is controlled by the
> In-Reply-To header, not by the Subject, i.e. conforming mail clients pay
> *no attention* to the Subject header when displaying threads. People who
> hijack threads and plead that they "fixed" the Subject line should be
> told about this so they don't do it again.

	Sorry; hit send inadvertently -- anybody know a source for 
upgrading old eyes and fingers?

	I want to thank Patrick O'Callaghan for posting that very 
instructive fact.

	I also want to ask a question I haven't seen yet in this thread. 
Suppose I happen on a new fact that sends *me* off on a tangent -- 
something I've long meant to ask about, but not really relevant to the 
thread. (Here, for instance,it might be "Things the Uninitiated Need to 
Know and Never Get Told.")

	To do it, I naturally ought to start a new thread -- but also 
give the passage about the "*In* Reply-to" header, with credit to P O'C 
and what would be a bibliographic footnote if we were doing this in old-
fashioned paper journals. 

	People who've survived a turn among the shovels and funnels of 
grad school (probably still there -- but oh! the bliss not to know!) will 
instinctively want to cover themselves in such a way; and that instinct, 
I suggest, may account for quite a bit of thread hijacking. Such people 
will jump to a better alternative if they find one.

	Is there a canonical one? Some special command that a newbie can 
handle, that accomplishes all that, and nevertheless begins a fresh 
thread?

	C&p handles a lot of it, but how about carrying along the finding 
info? It's mostly not even displayed, or not prominently, at least to my 
ancient eyes ....

-- 
Beartooth Staffwright, PhD, Neo-Redneck Linux Convert
Remember I know precious little of what I am talking about.




More information about the fedora-list mailing list