Re: [PLUG] Top-posting

[Steve Litt <slitt@troubleshooters.com>]

On Thu, 22 Sep 2016 15:59:39 -0400
Rich Freeman <r-plug@thefreemanclan.net> wrote:

> On Thu, Sep 22, 2016 at 3:16 PM, Christopher Barry
> <christopher.r.barry@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > If you get some email, and then say "hmm, I'll give this tag 'A'",
> > don't you then kind of have to remember how you tagged it? Isn't
> > that kinda like having to remember what folder you put it in?  
> 
> I never manually assign tags (well, very rarely at most).  Tags are
> typically assigned by filters.  For example, your email was flagged
> with plug and inbox.  When I hit send+archive on this reply the inbox
> tag will be removed.from the thread.  If another email comes in on the
> thread, the inbox tag will be added to it again.
> 
> > When I look for info
> > in claws, I just do a query on whatever words come to mind as being
> > related to the email or idea. Honestly, I really don't need to
> > search all that much through old email, but that's just my own
> > workflow I guess.  
> 
> I also typically use search to find random emails.  This is also
> something I've found generally doesn't work terribly well with IMAP
> and multi-GB mailboxes.

First, this all came about because the gmail email client was being
used as an excuse creating confusion and inconvenience to list members,
but the fact is, Rich Freeman's email replies are consistently inline
posted, trimmed, and concise. So given that, I'm hard-pressed to
suggest tag vs folder in his use case: Whichever way is easier for him
is perfect. I still get to read clear and concise email from him.

Second: Couldn't one use both folders *and* tags? The reason I ask is
that with normal Linux filesystems, when you start getting upwards of
40K files in a single directory, all file operations including read
slow down. One of the reasons I use folders is to try to keep every
folder under 20K emails. That's why my busier LUG mailing list folders
have yearly archives.

Folders are hierarchical, tags aren't. I could see some big benefits
searching by two systems: One that's hierarchical and one that's not.
Matter of fact, if I ever get a chance, I might build a tag-producing
system into my current procmail system. With just folders, I usually
find the email I need in seconds. But that one-off email, that happened
years ago, that I remember very little about, could take an hour to
find, or might never be found. A tagging system might help in such
cases.

Plus the fact that such a tagging system could be used, directly on
Dovecots maildir, without the features of any specific email client.

Thanks,

SteveT

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


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