NM> On 11 Mar 2003 Eduardo Chappa (cha...@math.washington.edu) wrote:
NM> > *** Nancy McGough (nm-this-address-is-va...@no.sp.am) wrote in...:
NM> >
NM> > NM> * Every message is in one of the following 4 categories
NM> > NM>    (A) Seen and Not Recent
NM> > NM>    (B) Seen and Recent
NM> > NM>    (C) Unseen and Recent
NM> > NM>    (D) Unseen and Not Recent
NM> >
NM>
NM> Our discussion about this in pine-info is part of what motivated
NM> me to write my message about the 4 categories of messages. It is
NM> still not clear to me what *you* think Pine means by New? Is it
NM> (A), (B), (C), (D), or a combination of these?

Hello Nancy,

  The answer to your second question is "(B) + (C)", but I need to tell
you how I understand the options:

Seen: A message is seen if Pine requested the body of the message from the
server (in the case of a IMAP/POP3 connection). This could have been done
by opening, replying, bouncing or forwarding the message.

Unseen: The opposite of Seen. If the folder is opened, pine has only
requested the headers of that message.

Recent: The message arrived to the folder since the last time the folder
was closed (this means approximately that you did not see that message in
the folder the last time it was opened. This explanation is not exact,
because it depends on the interval that you use for checking for new mail,
there may be new mail in your folder when you close it, but you don't see
it because Pine did not check for it. That's why there is a configuration
option [X] check-mail-when-quitting).

Not Recent: A message it's not recent if it was in the folder the last
time it was closed.

  Observe that while a folder is opened, the property of a message being
Recent has nothing to do with the message being seen or unseen. A message
that is recent while a folder is opened will remain recent until the
folder is closed.

  While a folder is closed if a message is "Recent"  then it is Unseen
too.

  Since a message can only be "Seen or Unseen", (B) + (C) is equivalent to
saying that a message is New if and only if it's Recent, and that's the
way I understand the word New.

  As far back as I can see, Pine uses the word "New" to indicate messages
that are flagged with a "N" in the default configuration of Pine. This
includes

1. messages that were not in the folder the last time you closed it (this
   includes messages that arrive while the folder is opened),

2. messages that were in folder the last time you closed the folder, but
   you did not read, or

3. messages that were in folder the last time you closed it, you read
   them, but you decided to flag "N" again, and did not read again before
   you closed the folder.

For IMAPSTATUS only messages that satisfy 1 above are New, and those that
satisfy 2 or 3 above are "Unseen" or "Unread". I agree with 1 above as the
definition of New. IMAPSTATUS flags both types of messages (2 and 3 above)
as Unseen. I do not completely agree with that, but it works fine for me
too.

NM> On your Filters page you say this:
NM>
NM>  A message is considered New in a filter if it was not present in the
NM>  folder the last time it was opened. This includes messages that
NM>  arrive when the folder is already opened as well as messages that
NM>  arrived during the period of time that the was closed.
NM>
NM> I think that what you are saying here is that "New in a filter"
NM> means a message is in category (B) or (C) -- is that what you're
NM> saying?

I am saying (B) + (C) in the sense that I explained before.

NM> Also, what do you think Pine means by "New" in other (non-filter)
NM> parts of the user interface? Does it mean something different
NM> from the "New in a filter" meaning? If so, which one or more of
NM> (A), (B), (C), and (D) does it mean?

In the default configuration of Pine, and with the definitions that I gave
above, the word "New" is used to indicate "Recent" or "Unseen" in the
index screen. In your options above, this is "(B) + (C) + (D)".

When you press the TAB key pine searches for the next message that is
either "Recent and Unread" or "Unseen" (or important, depending on your
configuration), that is not deleted, that is "(C) +(D)" in your options,
within the same folder. If it does not find any message that matches the
above criteria and you are either in the incoming folders or news
collection, it will go to the next folder in that collection and open that
folder (or offer to open that folder) if it finds a "Recent" message, that
is "(C)" in your options, in the next folder in that collection.

I can't think of any other place in Pine where the word "new" has another
different meaning. If I think about it, I'll post it too.

--
Eduardo
http://www.math.washington.edu/~chappa/pine/