Hi, To add a bit to what George was saying - yes, the thread-topic header is the one that is used especially by newer Outlook versions, but also the References headers and In-Reply-To headers. These last two are somewhat dated now and are concerned with mailing lists where lots of people are using Unix mail clients or newsgroups. When I started back on the Internet around 8-9 years ago, I used a program for OS/2 called Yarn (which I used until 2000 on this list - remember those Newsgroup: headers)? Anyway, to illustrate why there are two options - sort by thread and sort by subject, in a newsgroup where you have several hundred topics drifting here and there, people did what the moderators are telling you not to do - that is change the subject heading without breaking the thread, because in most clients this was shown very well - excuse the sighted bit here, but for those who can see, this is how Yarn did it: Subject Author | Tescos Access Site Andrew Hodgson | DJ Paddy | Other grocery online shops Andrew Hodgson | DJ Paddy | Andrew Hodgson | George Bell | Andrew Hodgson In my example, I started a thread about Tescos shopping. Both DJ Paddy and George replied to this, I replied to George on the same topic subject, but in Barry's reply I changed the subject as he talked a bit more about other different shopping sites. DJ Paddy then replied to the same topic, and I then replied back. In Yarn you could also expand/collapse the different branches of the thread at will to make it easier to read. Sorry for the crude diagram, but this is how it was done, and I am sure that those people who can see can see why it was done like this - especially where you had whole streams of messages like this. For those of you who can't see the diagram, or who can't understand it, this is why on a VI list such as this we need to really change the subject line if at all possible. Hope this helped, Andrew. P.S. If you want to thank me, please send me the cost of a Wye Valley - I will be more than happy to remember your thanks at the local pub! -----Original Message----- From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of George Bell Sent: 05 September 2005 20:50 To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [access-uk] Re: Moderators request once more: Subject naming For the benefit of those who are wondering what this thread is all about, (and some of those who do) let my try to explain. Andrew has mentioned some of what follows, but I feel that perhaps a simpler explanation might help. (And sorry if this is a long message, but I too have learned a few new things today about how to manage mail from e-mail lists.) Most e-mail software packages these days allow you to sort messages in one way or another. This might, for example, be by date received or by sender. However, there are two specific sorting methods which are of concern here, Subject and what is called either, "Thread" or, "Conversation". So how do these two work? When you send a completely new message to the list, you (hopefully) include a meaningful Subject. If someone replies to your message, many (but not all) e-mail systems will add additional information to the reply called a, "Thread-Topic" to the bit of the message you do not usually see, called the "Header". This is normally whatever was in the Subject line of the new message you sent. Once this, "Thread-Topic" Header has been added to a message, it essentially CANNOT be changed when you reply to that message - at least not easily. Someone may change the SUBJECT in a reply to a message, but that "Thread-Topic" will stay the same. Now in Outlook for example, one of the sorting options is "Conversation", and it is actually the, "Thread-Topic" which is used to sort messages. But Outlook also includes a sort by, "Subject". So why have these two sorts, "Subject" and "Conversation" or "Thread"? I'm afraid it's one of these things that was probably decided by Internet boffins way back. Let's say you start a new conversation or thread, "Supermarket Web Pages", asking if anyone has any views on them. One person might reply, and leave the Subject as is. Someone else might reply, and change the subject to, "Tesco's Web Site". Another may reply, and change the subject to, "Morrison's Web Site". If you have your mail sorted by Conversation or Thread, all four messages above will be grouped together. If you have your messages sorted by Subject, you will get THREE groups of messages. Are you following me so far? So then I jump in, and reply to ANY of the above messages, and change the subject to, shall we say, "Internet Banking". That's fine for those who have sorted by Subject, but for those who have sorted by Conversation, or Thread, they now find a message about "Internet Banking" in amongst the "Supermarket Web Pages" messages. So the bottom line is that we are asking, as nicely as possible, if you would spare a minute to think about this when you are posting to the list. Are you really replying to the Subject, or are you starting a new conversation or thread? If it's NEW, please hit the NEW button instead of REPLY. If you have got this far - thank you. If you have any specific questions, I'll try to answer them as best I can. George bell. ** To leave the list, click on the immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe] ** If this link doesn't work then send a message to: ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ** and in the Subject line type ** unsubscribe ** For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the ** immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq] ** or send a message, to ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the Subject:- faq ** To leave the list, click on the immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe] ** If this link doesn't work then send a message to: ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ** and in the Subject line type ** unsubscribe ** For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the ** immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq] ** or send a message, to ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the Subject:- faq