John Li wrote:
I think that sometimes it is useful to continue the thread but update the subject as appropriate.Thread hijacking, 'untrimmed' posts etc. _are_ indeed a serious problem
On the subject of 'thread hijacking', much needless bandwidth has been taken up criticizing 'thread hijacking', when poor thread-tracking software appears to be at fault. If the subject line has been changed, a new thread should be considered to be created. In other areas, it is common practice to reply to an email in order to get the target address and use the correct sender's email, but change the subject line and the content. This behavior will probably not change--we should avoid the programmer's pitfall of making users' habits fit the software, and instead make software fit users' habits.
John
Now, maybe it might be convenient for the unwary if the email programs were to reset the links if both the subject and content are wiped and re-written. However, the current operation is, I would say, working as designed. Just that now there are soooo many new people on the Web that don't comprehend the design. ;-)
Mike
