Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10 3/23/84; site cbosgd.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!mgnetp!ihnp4!mhuxl!ulysses!cbosgd!mark
From: mark@cbosgd.UUCP (Mark Horton)
Newsgroups: net.news
Subject: Re: New news software authors take note, get rid of Re: feature
Message-ID: <53@cbosgd.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 24-Jun-84 17:48:09 EDT
Article-I.D.: cbosgd.53
Posted: Sun Jun 24 17:48:09 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 28-Jun-84 01:05:34 EDT
References: <161@looking.UUCP>
Reply-To: mark@cbosgd.UUCP (Mark Horton)
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Columbus
Lines: 19

There is already a framework in place for followups, and getting
rid of the Re: feature is not part of it.  People who are tired
of reading about socks in hyperspace appreciate the fact that
the subjects are the same, since they can 'n' all the messages
with the same subject.

A new header line called "Summary" exists (or at least there are
stubs in 2.11 for it) - after the text of a followup has been typed
in, the user should be prompted for a summary of what the user
has contributed to the discussion and that will be put into the
Summary header, which is shown to users reading the followup.

While the "References" line is there to help group subtopics,
it isn't enough; there are too many bottlenecks that lose things
like references.  Grouping messages with the same subject together
is an important part of this sorting.  Even then, people often enter
new messages with new subjects and the software can't tell.

	Mark Horton