Path: utzoo!utstat!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!neat.cs.toronto.edu!moraes
Newsgroups: news.software.nn
From: moraes@cs.toronto.edu (Mark Moraes)
Subject: Re: sorting of subject line
Message-ID: <90Jan25.223055est.2640@neat.cs.toronto.edu>
Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto
References: <5201@hydra.gatech.EDU> <2783@minyos.xx.rmit.oz> <2602@moondance.cs.uq.oz.au>
Date: 26 Jan 90 03:31:54 GMT
Lines: 25

king@batserver.cs.uq.oz.au (Paul King) writes:
>I get this effect from people who change the subject line
>i.e., don't use the followup features correctly.

Changing the subject line IS correct if you change it to match the
text of the article.  It does defeat newsreaders that believe subject
== thread, and kill on subject, so it isn't worth doing unless the
discussion has really drifted, which Usenet discussions tend to do.
Wayne Davison's idea to sort subject groups by date is a nice one.

Using the References: header to sort would be nice too, though not as
simple/fast.  This is intertwined with the threaded newsreader thread
in news.software.b, but not quite the same -- I'd be happy with using
the References: for a simple topological sort.  Excuses that this
scheme can get tied up in knots because some news software mangles the
References: line aren't really valid; such mangling is a bug, and
should be fixed -- the mangling can be ignored (it typically consists
of chopping off enough characters from the last message-id to fit a
new one in).  And of course, there are certain SMTP agents that refuse
to accept news by mail because the references line is longer than 254
characters, so news<->mail gateways would have to split the line
carefully, and glue it back together.  And there are certain fussy
mailers that actually validate every message-id in the references line
to make sure it conforms to RFC822 syntax, and chide the sender with
pedantic error messages....