Thanks for enlightening me, Daniel, Nick & Kit. I wasn't fully aware of the impact different eMail packages might make, not to mention the obstacles digest subscribers have in responding to individual postings. I would just ask that "Re" appear somewhere in a person's reply in order to distinguish that posting from the original.
Best wishes,
Eric
>I've often changed the subject line. My
>intention has never been to make it
>more difficult for anyone to follow a thread,
>but always to give a more appropriate title.
>
>1. Dopey titles
>===============
>
>As Kit mentions, people often use dopey
>titles, usually by oversight rather than
>on purpose, although we do quite often
>get variations on "question", "learner
>question", "please help", etc., some of
>which increase the probability of deletion
>substantially. Precise, informative titles
>give a signal that you are clued up and
>are striving to make things as easy as possible
>for Statalist members to reply helpfully.
>
>2. No title at all
>==================
>
>Indeed, no title at all is also quite
>common. I can't imagine a defence of
>that.
>
>3. Using another thread's title
>===============================
>
>Yet another common practice is to post
>a question by replying to someone else's
>posting on a different question but _not
>changing the title_. Again, this is presumably
>oversight and prompt changing of the title
>is more helpful than leaving it be.
>
>4. Morphing of thread
>=====================
>
>A thread changing direction is also common.
>Enough said.
>
>As the present FAQ maintainer, I am open
>to further comments about this, but I'm tempted
>to think this is all standard email stuff
>and raises no questions specific to Statalist.
>
>I have only one concrete suggestion:
>whoever changes a subject line should _consider_
>indicating that fact when they change. Suppose
>the incoming is
>
>question
>
>you might change it to
>
>problem with -xtreg- [was:question]
>
>I say _consider_ because it is possible that
>titles in this way accrete bits of past titles and
>so become inordinately long if this is followed
>too zealously.
>
>Nick
>[email protected]
>
>Kit Baum
>
>> Eric said
>>
>> 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).
>
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--
===================================================
Eric G. Wruck
Econalytics
2535 Sherwood Road
Columbus, OH 43209
ph: 614.231.5034
cell: 614.327.4182
eFax: 614.573.6639
eMail: [email protected]
website: http://www.econalytics.com
====================================================
*
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