X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: f996b,6da2cae57b4f2e3d X-Google-Attributes: gidf996b,public X-Google-Thread: 110f55,6da2cae57b4f2e3d X-Google-Attributes: gid110f55,public X-Google-Thread: fbb9d,5f636f607e74e744 X-Google-Attributes: gidfbb9d,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 1994-09-15 05:15:04 PST Path: bga.com!news.sprintlink.net!sashimi.wwa.com!not-for-mail From: vzvz@netcom.com (Philip Zeyliger) Newsgroups: rec.arts.ascii,alt.ascii-art,alt.binaries.pictures.ascii Subject: Talk: IDs Date: 15 Sep 1994 01:14:41 -0500 Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Lines: 91 Sender: boba@wwa.com Approved: boba@wwa.com Message-ID: <358ooh$ln9@gagme.wwa.com> References: <351a0b$e0j@gagme.wwa.com> <356rsk$lep@gagme.wwa.com> <356ten$mf5@gagme.wwa.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gagme.wwa.com Xref: bga.com rec.arts.ascii:1662 alt.ascii-art:12055 alt.binaries.pictures.ascii:1124 Bob Allison (boba@wwa.com) wrote: : In article <356rsk$lep@gagme.wwa.com>, Matt Messina wrote: : > : >In article <351b4i$eec@gagme.wwa.com> Bob Allison, boba@wwa.com writes: : >> Originally, I asked, since most people prefer having an ID on a : >> subject line, why not put them at the end to get them out of our : >> collective face? : > : >I *wish* that we could put them in the Keywords header, but most : >newsreaders don't display Keywords until you see the article, and then : >there's the problem of getting people to use that header... : > : >> Well, on the groups, and in email, not one person liked the idea. On : >> some systems the end would get chopped off even if it wasn't on the : >> system of the person who posted it. : > : >I wouldn't mind the identifiers be at the end, but that's because my : >favorite newsreader (Nuntius for Macintosh) easily displays Subject lines : >that are 60 characters long. Most newsreaders truncate the Subject line : >to far fewer characters than that, though. In addition, when an article : >passes through some machines that are configured wrong, the machine : >truncates the Subject line to approximately 25 characters. : > : >> OK, putting them at the end won't work. So what could be done to keep : >> them, but also make them less annoying? How about all lower case, in ()? : >> I did this post that way as an example. : > : >I agree with Zeus Paleologos , who, elsewhere in this : >thread, said that the IDs should be all the same length and capitalized : >(LIN,GIF,ANM,COL,3-D,BIN,BIG,RPO,REQ,DIS,Q??,A..,INF,ANC,FAQ--what happened : >to PIX? and what's the difference between INF and ANC?) to make it easy to : >scan Subject lines. IMO, putting IDs in parens would be a mistake, as it : >just wastes two characters, making the ID even more "in your face." If I : >had my way (If I ran the zoo :-)) IDs would look like : >"Subject: DIS Identifiers". : We tried the 3-letter IDs at the beginning. The problem there is that : they are more cryptic than a word. The new reader may quickly understand : words like request, talk, and answer, but those three letter ones require : that you've read the FAQ, and who read the FAQ? What beginning? I don't remember that... But of course I've only read this group for 1/2 to 2/3 of a year... And hey... I read the FAQ!!! Atleast about the ID's and sites and interesting stuff like that... not the info on how to draw even though once i went through it page by page slowly! : Don't get me wrong, I think that it's the best way, in theory. It's : the one I thoughth of at the beginning, but in practice it left something : to be desired. Yes, I agree... And newbie's-They'll read the FAQ soon enough... :-) : As to what's the diff between info and announce, they both are IDs for : specific information, but announce is of a higher level of importance. : For example, if I add some files to my FTP site, that's info, but if you : start a new FTP site, that's an announcement. : >Identifiers in this group are unique in the sense that they can change : >throughout a thread (REQUEST, GIF, LINE), whereas identifiers in : >rec.arts.tv.soaps, the canonical example of a labeled newsgroup, don't. : >This presents a problem, as some newsreaders thread by Subject rather than : >by References, but I don't see any way around that. : This brings up the point of changing the ID when posting. If a post : goes to r.a.a, I can check the ID and change it (although that's all I : ever tough in a post, I never touch the message itself, just the header). : But it would be great if I didn't have to do that. I'm not complaining, : I just think it's a good idea for people on any group to change the : subject line to reflect the current state of a thread. : Have you ever picked a post to read, and it had nothing to do with the : subject line? Did it feel like a waste of your time? : Oh well, I guess all this chatter hasn't changed anything. Using one -- |\__ ---------------------------------------------------- __/| / o\__ __/o \ | ___=' Philip Zeyliger `=___ | | \ vzvz@netcom.com / | \ \ / / > \ ---------> KOHb <--------- / < _| KOHb |_ on the Internet Chess Server _| |_ | ______ | telnet ics.onenet.edu 5000 | ______ | |__________| ==================================================== |__________|