On 6/9/07, Mike Schinkel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Ironic. I was asking for a method that would help me make the list more > managable, and have been told "no." Ironic because it will likely cause me > to leave before I can really learn more about Django, my reason for wanting > to get on the list to begin with. But I can't handle this volume of email > w/o having the tools I need (a subject indentifer) to manage it.
The problem, as I see it, is that a prefix ends up trading potentially valuable screen real estate for an easy way to filter, when easy ways to filter are already widely available. I'm subscribed to a variety of lists, and some have a prefix and some don't. Regardless of prefix, I'm already having Gmail sort on headers when the messages come in; that way I can quickly look at any particular list regardless of what's in the subject line. And that screen space can be a big issue -- if you're not reading in a maximized email client, or if you're not on a large screen, every character of the subject line is potentially valuable information that helps you skim and decide what needs to be read immediately and what can wait a little while. Taking away some of the actual subject to put in what is -- to most peoples' email clients -- redundant information seems like a bad trade. The other problem is email clients that insist on bad reply subjects; a list prefix can end up generating a single subject line that look like Re: [django-users] ... Re: [django-users] ... Re: [django-users] ... Re: [django-users] ... etc. Even with a maximized client on a widescreen monitor, it can be almost impossible to find the actual subject of the message in all that. Anecdote: I'm subscribed to at least one list which is routinely victimized by this problem, and it's awfully annoying. I'm honestly flabbergasted that Outlook apparently can't do this, but I also haven't really used Outlook in years, and I have a strong history of advocating for fixing problems at the root rather than slapping bandages over them; cluttering subject lines to make up for an email client's shortcomings seems like it encourages email clients to get even worse, because the people who have to use them will do the extra work to make things usable. > Just FYI, the [turbogears] list happily burns 12 characters of their subject > line, and it make their list oh-so-much-more managable. OK. Like I said, I'm subscribed to lists that do it both ways, and while I subjectively prefer not having a prefix, I don't think there's an objective solution that will work for everyone. Either way people will complain, so I think list admins should pick one way and stick to it; in the case of this list, the decision's been made. -- "Bureaucrat Conrad, you are technically correct -- the best kind of correct." --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Django users" group. To post to this group, send email to django-users@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/django-users?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
