I took a quick look at the Statalist FAQ but didn't see any guidance on
something I find mildly irritating: the practice of altering the
subject line. Somehow, some people can respond to a message without
generating a "Re: " to the original subject. Others take it upon
themselves to alter the original subject to something else, generally
more informative. In either event, it makes it harder for the
subscriber to identify the original posting & subsequent responses.
Comments please.
While there is an exhortation in the FAQ to ensure that informatve
subject lines are used, sometimes we see something like "Re:
Statalist-Digest vol 4 No 223". Those of us who read the digest do not
have the automatic option of picking up the subject line, since when
replying we are replying to the sender of the digest rather than the
individual message. I try to remember to change the subject line (and
sometimes copy/paste in from the original message!) but in other cases
(like this one) it seems more appropriate to change it, even though
that messes up threading.... It also makes the message header
informative, if you are only viewing a list of message headers (as in
the digest listing at HSPH, which I prefer to that at StataCorp).
