On Wednesday 23 April 2003 23:06, Vince Littler wrote:
Well, if it ain't written down, it ain't a standard, regardless of the length of 'use', its age or even its shoe size.
Oh, so it's acceptable to fart in an elevator? So, you have no problem with someone saying your wife/girlfriend/mother is fat? In any "society" there are certain rules and "standards". Those that are written down are "de jure" and those these are not are "de facto". A de jure standard ist you don't punch a loadmouth in the face (whether he deserves it or not). A de facto standard says you don't fart in an elevator. If you continue, people simple won't get in the elevator with you. It is a standard to say "please" and "thank you" in polite society. These are not written down, but still *de facto* standards. <snip>
Your explanation makes total sense - once you know the bit about how messages are associated with threads. However, the problem remains that to most people 'thread' and 'subject' are the same thing and even in Kmail, 'thread' is not obvious as a message attribute in any sense other than the subject [particularly when you initiate the process of composing a message]. Solve that problem and I think that the instantiation of hijacked threads would halve and when the issue is pointed out in the remaining cases, people would be far more inclined to comply, purely through comprehension. This would only leave thread drift, which would be subjective, although godwinating a thread would always cross the line...
Other than satisifying someone's need for laziness, what does real benefit does allowing people to hijack threads serve? There are many, many benefits for following netiquette and starting a completely new thread. Not the least of which is that more people will see your question and you will have a greater chance of getting an answer. Where is the benefit for the group (i.e. the mailing list) to accept that thread hijacking is okay? As far as I can see none. Do you have one? If you do not use a threaded reader, then you will not notice the threads. So, either way you see no benefit from threads. On the other hand, those of us that use threaded readers encounter problems when people hijack threads. Just like avoiding people who fart in elevators, continued behaviour that is unacceptable by a group as a whole or by individuals within that group will only alienate them and they may simply ignore you. There are many, very competent and profession people on this list who consider thread hijacking a breach of netiquette. They are within their rights to put a condition on the great support they provide for **free**, are are within their rights to simple ignore people who do not follow certain rules of behaviour. It's the same anywhere. Since we are not discussing any real technical aspects of this, I personally find the discussion pointless. I am simply pointing out that there has been a certain expected behaviour on the Internet for 15-20 years and has thus become a de facto standard. Many people consider it impolite. I simply pointed this out. If you personally choose to ingore this and behave in a manner that many consider impolite simply because it is not written down, that is your choice. <snip> Regards, jimmo -- --------------------------------------- "Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are." -- John Wooden --------------------------------------- Be sure to visit the Linux Tutorial: http://www.linux-tutorial.info --------------------------------------- NOTE: All messages sent to me in response to my posts to newsgroups, mailing lists or forums are subject to reposting.