Re: Counting the troops

[Ben Finney <ben+debian@benfinney.id.au>]

Christian Perrier <bubulle@debian.org> writes:

> Quoting Ben Finney (ben+debian@benfinney.id.au):
> 
> > A suggestion for improvement: please adopt a form of subject that
> > helps the reader understand what the message is about without
> > knowing some obscure language.
> 
> These messages are processed by robots such as
> http://i18n.debian.net/debian-l10n/english/en.by_status.html

That doesn't require that the Subject field be a mess that explains
nothing to the human reader.

We have many robots processing email messages, without needing to have
gibberish-looking Subject fields. For just one alternative interface,
the machine-parseable information can be in fields of a pseudo-header
in the body, while leaving the Subject field to its normal purpose.

> The messages themselves, as well as
> http://wiki.debian.org/I18n/SmithReviewProject, explain the specific
> format of these message.

Nevertheless, the message subject fields are quite off-putting and
look spammy. Without a clear Subject field that tells the human reader
why the message is of interest, it's likely to be skipped more often
than you might like. Hence my suggestion for improvement.

-- 
 \     “The illiterate of the future will not be the person who cannot |
  `\      read. It will be the person who does not know how to learn.” |
_o__)                                                   —Alvin Toffler |
Ben Finney