Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!utastro!werner
From: werner@utastro.UUCP (Werner Uhrig)
Newsgroups: news.admin
Subject: Re: Tired of bogus subject lines?
Summary: subject line with "Re:" considered useful.  use the Summary: header
Message-ID: <4352@utastro.UUCP>
Date: 13 Sep 89 21:38:38 GMT
References: <1650@unocss.UUCP> <112@blekko.UUCP> <6120@ficc.uu.net> <12715@looking.on.ca>
Organization: U. Texas, Astronomy, Austin, TX
Lines: 40

In <12715@looking.on.ca>, brad@looking.on.ca (Brad Templeton) writes:

> In fact, my argument has always been that the ability to have an automatic
> subject line with "Re:" is a bug in the news posting programs.  It
> discourages people writing descriptive subjects.  

	I would rather trust a machine-generated Subject-line containing
	"Re:" to indicate a thread than a user's hand-knit Subject line
	which is more likely to obscure that a thread exists.

	the attentive author adds a "Summary"" line, or, if he wants to make
	clear that it is only "formally" a follow-up, he can append at the
	end of Subject-line a "really: I'm taking the discussion elsewhere"


> What I want is a subject line that tells what is in the article it heads,
> not a subject line that tells what is in the article it's replying to,
> N times removed.

	what we all want is better computer support to help in identifying
	and extracting information that interests us while ignoring the rest.
	By custom, the Subject-line has a "formal definition" of contents,
	and I find the Summary-line, given the proper contents by the author,
	satisfies my needs at the moment.

	I don't consider the situation as bleak as some people paint it,
	on the other hand, I also don't mean to say that things could not
	benefit from some changes.  Tools exist to benefit from "Re:" so
	lets use them until some truely better tools are available.

	I look forward to the clipping-service as a truely remarkable step
	forward.  kudos for that initiative, Brad ... how is it coming?
	I have not heard any news for quite a while (or am I not looking
	into the right "nooks and crannies"?!)

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