On 15/07/05, Skyring skyring@gmail.com wrote:
While I endorse your comments, Chris, may I note that the reason I use GMail for mailing list traffic is because it is so very good at handling threads (which it calls conversations).
So long as the subject doesn't change, all unread messages are presented on a single page one after the other. Messages already read are shown in a "stacked up" manner. I keep my normal email for personal stuff, but I've transferred all of the several lists to which I subscribe onto GMail.
The problem is that GMail is not the only threaded mailreader, and that some of them (esp. older ones) work in a different way.
In the mail to which I'm replying, there's two header lines showing the threading information:
In-Reply-To: 42D71B2F.5020808@starglade.org References: 42D71B2F.5020808@starglade.org
Many systems use *these* to thread, rather than subject line (which can be very handy when subject lines start picking up or losing extra Re:'s), in much the same way as Usenet posts. Hence the desire to send a new message, which wouldn't have this internal information, and thus wouldn't be threaded...