Re: [PLUG] Top-posting (was: Replacement mailing list idea)

[Steve Litt <slitt@troubleshooters.com>]

On Sat, 17 Sep 2016 22:59:22 -0400
Rich Freeman <r-plug@thefreemanclan.net> wrote:

> On Sat, Sep 17, 2016 at 10:16 PM, Christopher Barry
> <christopher.r.barry@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > All webmail clients suck. Some may suck less than others, but in the
> > end, they all still suck.  
> 
> True, but there aren't many better solutions when you don't favor any
> particular desktop for checking your mail, and don't want to leave
> copies of your mail on some of the desktops you use.  

So you *do* have the capability of bottom or interleave posting. Why
not just do what you did in this email?

So the rest of my response is somewhat rhetoric, given that you
interleave post.

Let me preface this with something you say later:
=========================================================
> So, I end up using GMail.  Sure, it is annoying to occasionally have
> to run text through par-format because it clobbers the quoting, but it
> usually gets it right.  I'm sure it makes eyes bleed for anybody else
> who uses a threaded MUA (maybe not, GMail certainly doesn't make use
> of references but it might set them unlike Outlook).
=========================================================

There's a difference between your picking something that annoys *you*,
and something that annoys *lots of others* (makes eyes bleed),
especially given that a top post doesn't just ruin that post, but it
ruins all descendants. Long story short, it obscures who said what and
what responses refer to. It obfuscates, not for you, but for your
listmates.


> Sure, there is
> IMAP, but then you need to find good MUAs that support IMAP on
> Windows

Eudora, Thunderbird, Outlook.

> , Linux,

Mutt (Mutt supports IMAP), Claws, Thunderbird, Eudora, probably others.

> and Android (with push notifications for the latter so
> that it doesn't kill your battery).  

Just how much of a road warrior do you want to be? And on your Android,
if there's no facility for bottom/interleave posting there, is it
necessary to respond, on your Android, *right now* to a mailing list
post? Couldn't it wait until you get home to a desktop?

Gmail's got an IMAP. Couldn't you use its IMAP with Claws on
Linux and Eudora on Windows, and then use the Gmail client only on your
Android, and not use that for mailing lists?

> Oh, and it has to support
> synchronized contacts as well across all those platforms, 

Git?

> and with my
> Google contacts (unless you also want to propose an alternative for my
> Google Contacts app on my phone as well as Hangouts, and Google
> Calendar/Docs).

Far be it from being my business to tell someone not to use proprietary
stuff, but your use of Google everything is putting you in a position
where it's tough not to cause confusion, to others, during threads on
mailing lists. How far do you want to go down the Google path, and how
far do you think you'll get before you begin to resent that Google
dictates your workflow and your priorities?

> 
> And if one of those desktops is a Chromebook your options are even
> fewer; just webmail or ncurses.

So couldn't you just not respond to mailing list threads on your
Chromebook? Problem solved.

> 
> > I wholeheartedly second trying claws-mail.  
> 
> I'm pretty sure I've used it in the distant past.  I don't think it or
> any of the IMAP clients I've used really support tag-based email
> sorting either, which is a Gmail feature I find indispensible.

Would you find it as indispensible if you tried something else? It was
tough for me to switch from Windows to Linux, not being able to write
my books in MSWord, but after a while I got used to LyX. People adapt.
Often, after hating the new way, people come to like the new way more.

I'm not sure what tag based sorting is, and Duck Duck Go provided no
guidance, but it sounds like the kind of thing that would be rendered
almost moot by a good folder system plus a good
date/subject/status/word sort algorithm like that of Claws-Mail.

> 
> Honestly, I've struggled to find even desktop clients that are as
> useful for going through mail.  GMail gives you a one-button shortcut
> to archive messages.

I want to make sure I have this right: Doesn't Gmail give you the
option to create filters to automatically place mailing list posts in
folders for their respective mailing lists, so that your inbox just
contains one-off type stuff and business correspondence (in which
top-posting is prefereable)? Why not just let your mailing list posts
accumulate in their folders and wait til you're at a desktop to
respond to them?


> 
> So, I end up using GMail.  Sure, it is annoying to occasionally have
> to run text through par-format because it clobbers the quoting, but it
> usually gets it right.  I'm sure it makes eyes bleed for anybody else
> who uses a threaded MUA (maybe not, GMail certainly doesn't make use
> of references but it might set them unlike Outlook).
> 
> But, if somebody could come up with a better alternative I'd be all
> for it.  

The question is: Better for whom? Obviously you've found something
convenient to you. But at what cost to those following long and
technical threads?

SteveT

Steve Litt 
September 2016 featured book: Twenty Eight Tales of Troubleshooting
http://www.troubleshooters.com/28


___________________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group         --        http://www.phillylinux.org
Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
General Discussion  --   http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug