[R] [BioC] Outlook does threading [Broadcast]

Liaw, Andy andy_liaw at merck.com
Thu Feb 1 04:48:17 CET 2007


This is really off-topic for both BioC and R-help, so I'll 
keep it short. 


From: Kimpel, Mark William
> 
> See below for Bert Gunter's off list reply to me (which I do 
> appreciate). I'm putting it back on the list because it seems 
> there is still confusion regarding the difference between 
> threading and sorting by subject. I thought the example I 
> will give below will serve as instructional for other Outlook 
> users who may be similarly confused as I was (am?). 
> 
> Per Bert's instructions, I just set up my inbox to sort by 
> subject. I sent one email to myself with the subject "test1" 
> and then replied to it without changing the subject. The 
> reply correctly went to "test1" in the inbox sorter. I then 
> changed the subject heading in the test1 reply to "test2" and 
> sent it to myself. This time Outlook re-categorized it and 
> put it in a separate compartment in the view called "test2".
> 
> If Outlook can do threading the way the R mail server does, I 
> don't think this is the way to do it.

AFAIK there's no proper way to get the correct threading in 
Outlook.  What I do is group by conversation topic, but that
doesn't solve the problem.  This is only problem on your
(and all Outlook users'?) end, though.  The bigger problem
that affects the lists is that some versions of MS Exchange 
Server do not include the "In-reply-to" header field that
many mailing lists rely on for proper threading.  As a result,
when I reply to other people's post, it may show up in Outlook
as having been threaded properly (because the subject is fine),
but it throws everything else that does proper threading off.
 
> Unless someone has an idea of how to correctly set up Outlook 
> to do threading in the manner that the R mail server does,

Maybe some VBA coding can be done to get it right, but short
of that, I very much doubt it.

> I 
> think the message for us Outlook users is to just create, 
> from scratch, a new message when initiating a new subject.

That message ought to be clear for everyone.  You should
never reply to a message when you really mean to start
a new topic, regardless what you are using.

Andy
 
> Thanks for all your help. 
> 
> Mark
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bert Gunter [mailto:gunter.berton at gene.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 7:03 PM
> To: Kimpel, Mark William
> Subject: Outlook does threading
> 
>  Mark:
> 
> No need to bother the R list with this. Outlook does 
> threading. Just sort on Subject in the viewer.
> 
> Bert Gunter
> Genentech Nonclinical Statistics
> South San Francisco, CA 94404
> 650-467-7374
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: r-help-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch
> [mailto:r-help-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch] On Behalf Of 
> Kimpel, Mark William
> Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 3:36 PM
> To: Peter Dalgaard
> Cc: r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch; bioconductor at stat.math.ethz.ch
> Subject: Re: [R] possible spam alert
> 
> Peter,
> 
> Thanks you for your explanation, I had taken Mr. Connolly's 
> message to me to imply that I was not changing the subject 
> line. I use MS Outlook
> 2007 and, unless I am just not seeing it, Outlook does not 
> normally display the "in reply to" header, I was under the 
> mistaken impression that that was what the Subject line was 
> for. See, for example, the header to your message to me 
> below. Outlook will, however, sort messages by Subject, and 
> that is what I thought was meant by threading.
> 
> Well, I learned something today and apologize for any 
> inconvenience my posts may have caused.
> 
> BTW, I use Outlook because it is supported by my university 
> server and will synch my appointments and contacts with my 
> PDA, which runs Windows CE. If anyone has a suggestion for me 
> of a better email program that will provide proper threading 
> AND work with a MS email server and synch with Windows CE, 
> I'd love to hear it.
> 
> Thanks again,
> 
> Mark
> 
> Mark W. Kimpel MD 
> 
>  
> 
> (317) 490-5129 Work, & Mobile
> 
>  
> 
> (317) 663-0513 Home (no voice mail please)
> 
> 1-(317)-536-2730 FAX
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Peter Dalgaard [mailto:p.dalgaard at biostat.ku.dk]
> Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 6:25 PM
> To: Kimpel, Mark William
> Cc: bioconductor at stat.math.ethz.ch; r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch
> Subject: Re: [R] possible spam alert
> 
> Kimpel, Mark William wrote:
> > The last two times I have originated message threads on R or 
> > Bioconductor I have received the message included below 
> from someone 
> > named Patrick Connolly. Both times I was the originator of 
> the message 
> > thread and used what I thought was a unique subject line that
> explained
> > as best I could what my question was. Patrick seems to be implying
> that
> > I am abusing the R and BioC help newsgroups in this fashion. 
> >
> > When I emailed him to give me a specific example, he did not reply.
> The
> > most recent thread that he seems concerned about was to the 
> R list and 
> > was entitled "regexpr and parsing question" . I believe the 
> previous 
> > post of mine that he had problems with was to the BioC list but I
> can't
> > remember its subject.
> >
> > Is this spam?
> >   
> No. Breach of netiquette, yes.
> 
> The message in question starts a new thread, yet contains an
> In-Reply-To: header line, which presumably means that you 
> started writing the message as a reply to something 
> completely unrelated,
> specifically: "Re: [R] change plotting symbol for groups in 
> trellis graph". You should not do that, unless you know how 
> to remove the In-Reply-To line (and this is not obvious in 
> many mail clients); changing the subject is not sufficient.
> > If I am doing this correctly, you should see the subject "possible
> spam
> > alert" in the subject header of THIS message.
> >
> > Would the moderators of the lists please check and see if I 
> am doing 
> > some wrong and, if not, inform Mr. Connolly that I am not. 
> If others 
> > have received this message in error, it is possible it is spam and
> users
> > should be alerted.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Mark
> >
> > Mark W. Kimpel MD
> >
> >  
> >
> >  
> >
> > Official Business Address:
> >
> >  
> >
> > Department of Psychiatry
> >
> > Indiana University School of Medicine
> >
> > PR M116
> >
> > Institute of Psychiatric Research
> >
> > 791 Union Drive
> >
> > Indianapolis, IN 46202
> >
> >  
> > This is a request to anyone who starts a new subject to begin with a
> new
> > message and NOT reply to an existing one.  If your mail 
> client is any 
> > good, it's very simple to set up an alias (mine is simply 
> 'r') so that 
> > the tedious task of typing 'r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch' is unnecessary
> and
> > it's quicker than scrolling through an address book.
> > It's also quicker than deleting the previous subject.
> >
> > Most mornings, I have over a screenful of messages mostly 
> from R-help 
> > and it's very useful to have them threaded.  However, the usefulness
> of
> > threading is lost when posters reply to a message and then 
> change the 
> > subject instead of creating a new message.
> >
> > People who don't have a mail client that can display email 
> in threads 
> > are probably unaware that this sort of thing can happen in ones that
> do:
> >
> >
> >     37 N   25 Jan Luis Silva              ( 34) [R] plot/screen
> >     38 N   25 Jan Uwe Ligges              ( 55) `-> 
> >     39 N   25 Jan Fernando Henrique Ferra ( 20) [R] 
> Plotting coloured
> > histograms
> > ->  40 N   26 Jan Mohamed A. Kerasha      ( 12) |->[R] 
> Distributions.
> >     41 N   26 Jan ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk   ( 26) | |->
> >     42     26 Jan Qin Xin                 (  9) | `->[R] how could I
> add
> > legends
> >     43     27 Jan Ko-Kang Kevin Wang      ( 31) |   `->
> >     44 N   26 Jan Remigijus Lapinskas     ( 32) |->Re: [R] Plotting
> > coloured his
> >     45 N   26 Jan Damon Wischik           (125) `-> 
> >     46 N   25 Jan Rex_Bryan at urscorp.com   ( 10) [R] plotting
> primatives,
> > ellipse
> >     47 N   25 Jan Uwe Ligges              ( 19) `->   
> >
> >
> > As Martin Maechler explained some time ago, it also screws up the 
> > archives for a similar reason.
> >
> > Your cooperation will be greatly appreciated.
> >
> > best
> >
> >
> 
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