[GRLUG] Social norms

[Adam Tauno Williams]

> >  So to create a new thread you must always click "compose" and never
> >  "reply".

In most forums I am in it is acceptable to reply with a subject like:

"Social norms [Was: 64-but Linux]"

and then the next person drops the [Was:" like:

"Re: Social norms".

This makes it obvious to anyone reading the archives (always important
to consider in the style used to post to a forum) that this is a
fork/tangent of the thread.

However, there are forums where thread splitting is never acceptable.
So unless you are familiar with the culture of a forum it is better to
never fork a thread - and when the topic is entirely unrelated [like
this one :)] it is better not to fork an existing thread.

> I didn't know that. sorry  I use gmail which splits out threads based
> on subject only.

Yea,  I think there are numerous facets about GMail that break spec.  I
consider Gmail to be a "bad" mail client.  Which is sad given Google's
praise of openness and standards; most of which I now think of as just
so much marketing bilge.  But GMail accessed via POP or IMAP behaves
correctly as long as the client follows the spec.
-- 
          Consonance: an Open Source .NET OpenGroupware client.
 Contact:awilliam at whitemiceconsulting.com   http://freshmeat.net/projects/consonance/