Re: lynx-dev Version hides real subject in mailing list

[David Combs]

On Thu, Mar 18, 1999 at 08:46:48AM +0000, David Woolley wrote:
> Here is a small sample of my incoming Lynx mail:
> 
>      49  Mar 16 Klaus Weide        (53)   Re: lynx-dev lynx2.8.2dev.19 patch #
>      50  Mar 16 Michael Warner     (50)   Multiple command-line URL's (was: Re
>   N  51  Mar 16 David Combs        (35)   Re: lynx-dev lynx2.8.2dev.19 patch #
>   N  52  Mar 16 David Combs        (67)   Re: lynx-dev lynx2.8.2dev.19 patch #
>   N  53  Mar 16 David Combs        (63)   Re: lynx-dev lynx2.8.2dev.19 patch #
> 
> Note that for 4 of these the only visible information in the subject is
> the name of the latest development version.  Generally I ignore these as
> the effective subject contains about as much information as the "Problem",
> or "Bug" subjects that come from newbies.  Note Pegasus Mail truncates 
> similarly and I think this is true of most other mail readers.  (trn has
> the best strategy as it breaks the subject in the middle and inserts and
> ellipsis.)
> 
> Could you please re-arrange your subjects to ensure that the information in
> the subject comes nearer the front, if you want people to actually read
> them.  (It would probably be a good idea to reduce lynx-dev to lynx or
> [LYNX] - majordomo will leave out the former if lynx appears in the
> original subject.)


Finally, due to suggestions to mbrs of THIS list, I've switched
from plain unix "mail" to mutt.

Note: I have a 20" screen.

Here's a picture of the mutt listing of mails (I gave the command
"o" (option) then "s" (sort by subject, cleverly):

q:Quit  d:Del  u:Undel  s:Save  m:Mail  r:Reply  g:Group  ?:Help                
                                                    
   1     Mar 15 Nathan Meyers   (  20) Re: (pizza) How about MACROS? (fwd)
   2     Mar 16 address@hidden (  40) Re: (pizza) How about MACROS? (fwd)
   3     Mar 10 Karl Heuer      (  14) Re: Am doing something really stupid.  
BUT WHAT?
   4   F Mar 15 To address@hidden (  63) How about MACROS?
   5     Mar 19 address@hidden ( 101) Re: lynx-dev Lynx Problem
   6  D  Mar 18 Paul Vojta      (  13) lynx-dev lynx.cfg documentation
   7     Mar 15 Philip Webb     (  58) Re: lynx-dev lynx2.8.2dev.19 patch #6 
(em dash = --)
   8  D  Mar 18 address@hidden (  21) Re: lynx-dev lynx2.8.2dev.20
   9  D  Mar 18 Kim DeVaughn    (  12) Re: lynx-dev lynx2.8.2dev.20
  10  D  Mar 18 Philip Webb     (  19) Re: lynx-dev lynx2.8.2dev.20
  11  D  Mar 18 Philip Webb     (  12) Re: lynx-dev lynx2.8.2dev.20
  12     Mar 10 Philip Webb     (  11) Re: lynx-dev LYNX: enter state-abbrev on 
yahoo? HOW?
  13     Mar 10 Ismael Cordeiro (  40) Re: lynx-dev LYNX: enter state-abbrev on 
yahoo? HOW?
  14  D  Mar 18 John Bley       (  13) Re: lynx-dev New Version Notification 
service
  15  D  Mar 18 Philip Webb     (  14) Re: lynx-dev New Version Notification 
service
  16  D  Mar 19 dr.mario        (  15) lynx-dev Packet Drivers HELP!
  17  D  Mar 18 address@hidden (  65) lynx-dev Re: dev20 (with patch to patch 
that makes patches :-)
  18  D  Mar 18 address@hidden (  50) Re: lynx-dev Re: dev20 (with patch to 
patch that makes patches :-)
  19  D  Mar 18 Bela Lubkin     (  21) Re: lynx-dev Re: dev20 (with patch to 
patch that makes patches :-)
  20  D  Mar 19 Webmaster Jim   (  50) lynx-dev Re: disable wording (was: 
lynx2.8.2dev.20)
 

Note the cleverness in ignoring the "Re:" when building
the sort-key.  (This is mutt out-of-the-box, I believe;
certainly I myself did not set this up, am just using
what's avail on netcom (but the newest mutt, though)).

Now, all I've showed is that 20-inch screens are nice.

However, for those who travel, with laptops, I guess they're
limited to 80.


Now, are we talking about lynx here?  (last I knew, lynx
didn't "do" mail).

Or are we talking the mailing-list software, re having THAT
software munge the subject line?

Or are you pleading with us PEOPLE on the list, asking
US to write our subject lines in a mail-reader and screen-width-sensitive
way?



If via majordomo, I agree that something could/should be
done.  AS LONG AS IT IS SENSITIVE TO "SORTING BY SUBJECT"
within the mail-reader.

Maybe MUTT should be looked at, and how IT munges the 
subject-line to form the sort-key -- the majordomo lynx-added
scheme should be sensitive to THAT.

eg, it should remove the "Re:" BEFORE doing its shrinkage.

A further problem is that you send out ONE email, ie with
ONE subject line (munged, canonicalized, whataever), REGARDLESS
of the screen WIDTH of the mail READER (person); in fact,
one hour he/she might have 80 col screen, and the next
hour (returning from the airport) maybe 132.

No easy solution here!

(Only one I know is to wait 100 years until laptop
machines have 20" screens!).