On Mon, Apr 20, 2020 at 11:20 AM Stephen Carrier wrote: > I think the OP's first question was asking how to effectively join > an existing thread when one is browsing the recent archives and not > subscribed to the list. > > Joining the list after seeing a question one would like to answer > doesn't help, because the message you would like to respond to has > already gone by. > > I think a good solution would be to get the message number from the web > archive and request that a particular message be sent to you. Then you > could respond to that message and join the thread properly. > > However, there doesn't seem to be a way to do that. I used to be notified > how to retrieve messages I had missed (due to bouncing) but the method > did not work. Furthermore, the mailman faq doesn't mention any way to > do this.
I would say that this is a side-effect of using a mailing list when what's really being asked for is a discussion forum. A mailing list is convenient for self-subscription and replies, but replying to a past message (one that's "already gone by" as stated above) is not really possible (that I know of?). Starting a new message to the list with an identical subject to an existing thread doesn't reply to the existing thread but rather starts a new thread with an identical subject (since the thread ID is different). What I could suggest for this case is to start a new message and provide a link to a web-based copy of the message that you're replying to - this at least provides context, even though it starts a new thread. (This, of course, depends on a web-based archive of past messages.) This exact problem is one of the main reasons why many organizations prefer a web-based forum rather than a mailing list. (NNTP is a possibility, but many [most?] organizations block NNTP access for content management and security reasons.) One of the other main reasons a web-based forum is preferable is that participants don't have to store/delete irrelevant messages. Bill -- Problem reports: https://cygwin.com/problems.html FAQ: https://cygwin.com/faq/ Documentation: https://cygwin.com/docs.html Unsubscribe info: https://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple
