Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

LK> a suggestion



I have a suggestion which may help us with messages. My mailing program
keeps all undeleted messages in a file. I can list them but the list shows
only the FROM (phys-L@mailer.uwf.edu), DATE (....) and the SUBJECT (....).
I wish the mailer gave me a possibility to modify the subject string after
reading a received message. This would be convenient for adding the name
of the author. Without this going back to old messages is a little less
convenient that it can be.

For example, I want to re-read (or respond to) a message that Sciamanda
posted a week ago under the subject X. The list often shows ten or more
messages; all from Phys-L and all under the same subject. It is a waste
of time to open them one after another and look for the name of the author.
Can something be done at the phys-L server to replace the present FROM
identifier with the one which would combine phys-L with the author? For
example, instead of "phys-L@mailer.uwf.edu" it would be nice to have
something like "Phys-L*Sciamanda". I suspect that this is not a trivial
task.

I see a possibility of solving this problem in another way. Suppose we
agree to prepare our messages "off line" and send them with the MAIL
command (which allows to define a subject) rather than with the REPLY
command. And we identify ourselves in the SUBJECT string. This message,
for example, will have the subject: "LK> A SUGGESTION". The LK> is my ID
tag. Somebody else may prefer to use the first or last name. Others may
prefer to be wizards, amateurs, birds, frogs, rivers or roses. Grab what
you want and be consistent. Let us see if this can be useful.

The trouble with the second approach is that the REPLY command can not
be eliminated; we often want to respond spontaneousely. That would create
messages whose declared authors are not real. No big harm can result from
this, especially if we try to minimize instant replying. The first approach
would be better, if it could be implimented. Please start using a short ID
tag in in your subject strings. We will evaluate the usefulness of doing
this in two or three weeks.
Ludwik Kowalski