Tooo many messages on this mailing list?? How to avoid being swamped ...

anne-ology · October 16, 2015, 4:22pm

very interesting, indeed.

And has me curiously wondering ...
are you saying that by clicking on 'forward' then changing the
'Fw'/'Fwd' in the subject line to 'Re' breaks this coding in some
e-programs ??? ;-o

I use gmail because I dislike the philosophy of the only ISP
available in this area;
(am ready to change the moment there's an alternative available
to us)

       I thus had to quit using Outlook when I switched to gmail;
          I don't know what Live Mail is but have noticed this option pops
up at times when I'm contacting someone through their site ...
         not knowing how to use, I merely copy & paste their e-address to
an e-mail

Tom_Davies1 · October 16, 2015, 5:09pm

Hi
Forwarding definitely breaks breaks threads out into a new thread. Weird
that it doesn't happen on my GMail, so i guess that is yet more
confirmation that my GMail threads by subject-line rather than using the
proper way.

Live-Mail is another of Microsoft's. It's basically the new name for
Hotmail afaik. Old Hotmail accounts keep their name but probably use the
Live Mail systems.
Regards from
Tom

Mark_Bourne · October 16, 2015, 9:21pm

anne-ology wrote:

        very interesting, indeed.

        And has me curiously wondering ...
           are you saying that by clicking on 'forward' then changing the
'Fw'/'Fwd' in the subject line to 'Re' breaks this coding in some
e-programs ??? ;-o

For someone reading mail using a mail client which uses the in-reply-to: and references: headers, replying will keep the thread together regardless of the subject line (provided the person sending the reply adds those headers).

For someone reading mail using a mail client which uses the in-reply-to: and references: headers, forwarding an email instead of replying will break the thread, regardless of the subject line. It's a new message, usually being forwarded to a different person, not a reply to the original sender. So it's best to use "reply" when replying, and keep "forward" for forwarding.

For someone reading mail using a mail client which doesn't use those headers, but analyses the subject line, whether the messages are groups into a thread is somewhat unpredictable. It's common to add "Re:" to the beginning of the subject of a reply, so trying to exactly match the subject line will often fail. So most clients analysing the subject line probably ignore "Re:", and perhaps other languages and variations. Is "Fwd:" ignored in the same way? What about "[Fwd]"? Or "[libreoffice-users]"? It depends on how the particular client analyses the subject line. It could break apart messages which should be part of the same thread just because of some unanticipated difference in the subject line, or it could treat unrelated messages as being part of the same thread just because they have similar subjects.

        I use gmail because I dislike the philosophy of the only ISP
available in this area;
           (am ready to change the moment there's an alternative available
to us)

        I thus had to quit using Outlook when I switched to gmail;
           I don't know what Live Mail is but have noticed this option pops
up at times when I'm contacting someone through their site ...
          not knowing how to use, I merely copy & paste their e-address to
an e-mail

When I mentioned Live Mail, I was thinking of Windows Live Mail which replaced Outlook Express. That's probably what you see popping up when you click an email link on a web page. As Tom mentioned, there's also the successor to Hotmail, which is now called Outlook.com, but it may have had the "Live" name at one time...

James_E_Lang3 · October 17, 2015, 10:27pm

Using a web browser to send and receive eMail is the least likely to maintain threading. OTOH most servers that natively use a browser interface also allow third party mail clients (e.g. Thunderbird, Outlook, Pine, etc.) access via POP3 and/or IMAP (IMAP4) for receiving and SMTP for sending eMail. Most of these clients do support threading and my list of examples is not a recommendation of any of them.

Note that the clients that perform threading of received messages by subject generally do also include the threading headers on outgoing (sent) messages.

POP3 is a protocol that downloads the messages to you without leaving a copy on the server. IMAP (aka IMAP4) downloads a copy of the messages to you and within reason allows you to do as you please to the original (delete, refile to a folder or a hierarchy of folders if you like, leave in your INBOX, etc.) that is on the server.

Do a little searching on the internet as to how to configure various clients to access the servers (e.g. Gmail, Hotmail, etc.) using these protocols. It can be a little intimidating if you don't do the research. Note that some clients may speak of mail boxes and trays and folders while others use the terms accounts and nested mail boxes. They are the same functionally.

After the initial setup process (maybe as much as five minutes) I think you'll be very pleased with the change though everyone has his (her) own ideas as to how an eMail client should look or work. Wikipedia has an article about the myriad eMail clients that exist. Many of them are free. Try one; try several. You'll probably something to suit your taste.

Brian_Barker · October 18, 2015, 10:44pm

What gives you this mistaken impression?

Brian Barker

jorge1 · October 19, 2015, 3:15am

Hi all:

As I remember there is an option for example in Evolution mail program
to let or not the original mail in the server. Is an option of the user.
This option we check when start a new account.

Regards,

Jorge Rodríguez

JOE_Conner · October 19, 2015, 4:09am

Thunderbird has this option as well
Blessings, Joe Conner, Poulsbo, WA USA

James_E_Lang1 · October 19, 2015, 9:00am

postmaster@btinternet.com)
How to avoid being swamped ...
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James_Knott · October 19, 2015, 11:13am

Other email apps, such as Thunderbird and Seamonkey, also allow you to
leave email on a POP server for a specified period of time.

Villeroy · October 19, 2015, 12:01pm

This is a server option. When you check this option in your mail client,
it will tell the POP server to keep delivered mails.

Tanstaafl · October 19, 2015, 8:51pm

It isn't mistaken, it is fact.

Yes, the POP3 protocol was later amended to provide for optional
capabilities like leaving messages on the server, and most clients have
such options, but this is error-prone, and some servers do not honor
what you tell them (ie, gmail)...

I have many times seen servers/clients 'forget' what messages they have
already downloaded, and someone will start downloading the last 5 years
of their emails all over again...

Brian_Barker · October 20, 2015, 12:27am

POP3 is a protocol that downloads the messages to you without leaving a copy on the server.

What gives you this mistaken impression?

It isn't mistaken, it is fact.

Sorry, but it's not a fact.

Yes, the POP3 protocol was later amended to provide for optional capabilities like leaving messages on the server, ...

So you are saying it's not a fact but it's nevertheless true? There must be a name for style of argument where you claim something to be false and promptly explain that it is true! It's certainly not logic. (And there's no "later" involved: the sole protocol mentioned was POP3.)

POP3 has RETR to retrieve a message and *separately and optionally* DELE to delete the server copy. Even the original POP had the alternatives RETR to read messages and RDEL to read them and delete them - so there is no "later" about it.

... and most clients have such options, ...

If you see above, you will see that the claim was about the protocol, not clients that may use it. That claim - that Post Office Protocol cannot leave copies on servers - was the only (untrue) claim I described as mistaken.

... but this is error-prone, ...

Again, the point was not about advisability of using POP.

In the early days of use of the POP protocol, server space would have been at a premium and no doubt common and necessary practice was for clients to be configured to delete server copies of messages when they were downloaded. But that doesn't mean that "POP3 ... downloads ... without leaving a copy on the server."

POP: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc918
POP3: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1939

Brian Barker