Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!nbires!isis!aburt From: aburt@isis.UUCP (Andrew Burt) Newsgroups: news.admin,news.software.b Subject: Re: Novel new idea to stop followups Message-ID: <2063@isis.UUCP> Date: Thu, 3-Dec-87 10:44:45 EST Article-I.D.: isis.2063 Posted: Thu Dec 3 10:44:45 1987 Date-Received: Wed, 9-Dec-87 19:36:55 EST References: <1173@looking.UUCP> <2476@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> Reply-To: aburt@isis.UUCP (Andrew Burt) Organization: Math/CS, University of Denver Lines: 34 Xref: mnetor news.admin:1486 news.software.b:1014 >brad@looking.UUCP writes: > People in the past have suggested that followups shouldn't be done > until after all the news in a group is read. First let's get straight what problem it is we're trying to solve. I see two offhand: (1) Person replies only to find a later msg in the group says the same thing (i.e., the effort was wasted); (2) person replies and is very hotheaded, delaying will cause them to cool down. Re (2), if someone wants to be hotheaded I think they'd just as soon escape to vi, write their hotheaded msg, and save it until they could post. I don't see that the software will be able to influence this (whether it *should* or not is another matter entirely). However, (1) is a valid concern of mine. I know a solution I would like to see for this would be: For the newsreader programs, particularly rn, to display after the subject, "[NNN more articles with same subject]". Presuming people keep the subject lines meaningful and without needless change, as many people do, it is then obvious whether it is time to think about following up yet or not; I think the natural tendency would be to wait for it to read "[0 more ...]" before hitting the 'f' key. This also makes it easier to decide when to hit the 'k' key in rn... (Mebbe it's just me, but I feel frustrated when I hit 'k' and it says no more articles, so the next time I *don't* hit 'k', and I see three followups I didn't want to read... or I see a followup, hit 'k', and it says no more... I seem to have bad timing with respect to hitting 'k' when it will do the most good :-) -- Andrew Burt isis!aburt Fight Denver's pollution: Don't Breathe and Drive.