Re: [Phys-L] conflated threads

[Mark Kimball <phydocmarko@gmail.com>]

> On 2012, Jul 12, , at 10:09, chuck britton wrote:
>
> > 'Modern' emai contains an entry in the header that is a numerical 'thread' designation. Anyone who responds to such an email is quite able to change the 'Subject' but doesn't change the header numerical thread designation.
> >
> > This is the way that threads get 'hijacked'. In order to avoid such unintended hijacking each participant needs to start a NEW thread (original Posting) instead of taking the 'Easy Way Out' by 'just' changing the Subject line of an existing thread.

Chuck is correct. The archiving software utilizes both the References
and In-Reply-To fields of messages for determining threads. Most
modern mail clients use the In-Reply-To field to thread messages. If
you wish to see the man behind the curtain, instruct your mail client
to show all headers (Gmail calls this function "Show Original"; other
clients might use something similar). There is a lot of info that is
typically hidden from sight and the two fields mentioned above are in
there.

Hopefully, now that we have a permanent mail address that is simple to
remember, starting a new thread is not much more work than changing a
subject line.

Cheers,
Mark