In favour of threading by 'references' and 'in-reply-to' header.
jug...@gmail.com
handles threads (or conversations) so that it more closely matches
existing standards for email. This standard provides for the all
replies to be grouped with their original message, creating a
conversation. This grouping formula is not interupted when someone
changes the subject header. Rather, a new thread is only started if a
user composes an original email (ie. by pressing 'compose' instead of
'reply' ).
Local email clients like Eudora, Outlook, Thunderbird, Pegasus* all
follow this standard. Mailing lists and usenet groups work this way as
well. Gmail's own online documentation also indicates that Gmail was
intended to follow this standard but for some reason have not achieved
it yet.
This is what Gmail says 'conversations' are:
> Gmail: Help Center Home > Messages & Conversations
> What are conversations?
> Gmail groups all replies with their original message, creating a conversation.
Not exactly. At present Gmail groups all messages with identical
subject lines together regardless of whether they refer to eachother.
>Gmail: Help Center Home > Glossary
> Conversation
> An original message, and all of its replies (and replies to the replies).
> Sometimes, conversations are referred to as "threads." By organizing your mailbox in
> threads, it's easier to understand the context of a message -- or to follow the
> conversation.
The word 'threads' has been in common currency for quite some time
before Gmail came along. The above definition matches the common usage
quite well. However Gmail's actual behaviour does not.
Lastly Even the FAQ hints that GMAIL aspires towards standards
compliance.
> Help Center Home > Errors and General Issues
> Why are my messages improperly threaded?
> While we work out kinks in our 'Conversation' feature, some of your messages may not be included in the proper conversations. At this time, you can't manually merge or separate messages from conversations. We're working hard to improve our service, and you can help us by sending us the message headers from any affected conversations.
> Here's how to find headers:
> 1. Open a message.
> 2. Click 'More options.'
> 3. Click 'Show original.'
> 4. Copy everything from 'Delivered-To:' through the 'References:' line.
The fact that they mention the References header certainly implies to
me that the developers recognize that it should play an important role
in grouping messages.
Many users have come to Gmail from other webmail services and have
never experienced proper threading. For these users simple subject
groupings are already a delightful improvement over unsorted webmail.
But it would be a lost opportunity if they were to settle for anything
less than full reference-based threading. So this thread is a call to
those who know how much better yet it could be to help educate other
users as well as continue to encourage the Gmail team to build the best
possible webmail client.
evan
I also use mail software that properly thread messages by 'references'
and 'in-reply-to' header, and I think that it will significantly
improve everyone's user experience when Gmail does support it.
I am looking forward to that (hopefully) near future !
Evan
jmg...@gmail.com
> Let's encourage Gmail developers to continue working on the way gmail
> handles threads (or conversations) so that it more closely matches
> existing standards for email.
All I can add is, "hear, hear"!
Gmail developers, please take pity on us poor geeks who love your
product but miss our proper threaded view.
Cheers,
Josh