Re: message formatting [was Wheezy/XFCE/VNC}
On Tue, 2013-11-19 at 16:04 -0700, Bob Proulx wrote:
> Andre Majorel wrote:
> > Or don't mailers show threads any more ?
>
> Actually many popular (but incorrect) mail user agents do not show
> threads. Previously the biggest offender was Outlook. These days the
> biggest offender is Gmail. I find it very surprising that a mail user
> agent wouldn't handle theads. I forgive mailx for not handling
> threads but Gmail? Especially these days. Gmail should handle
> message threads.
>
> Gmail uses a "group by subject line" model. It is definitely not the
> same as a threaded conversation. In Gmail if the subject line
> changes, something that has always been a good practice when the topic
> has drifted, then the message is displayed unattached to any previous
> message. Worse is that if an unrelated message has the same subject
> then it is grouped together into the same "group by subject" even if
> it has no relationship to the previous email.
Averaged computer users very often replace the subject and body of a
message, IOW they only keep the address to write a new mail. They aren't
aware, that they keep some magic note that is hidden in a magical
header. I suspect that Gmail doesn't support it for good reasons. Mails
sorted by thread for the averaged Gmail user would cause much confusion
and claims that Gmail should be buggy. They likely try to protect users
against confusion and Gmail against a bad reputation for the masses. I
don't know Gmail myself, but it sounds like it's perfectly pimped out
for the masses.
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