Comments on: Thread Theory http://www.rants.org/2008/03/06/thread_theory/ Thoughts, musings, and rants by Karl Fogel Sat, 06 Feb 2010 03:09:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0-alpha hourly 1 By: micah http://www.rants.org/2008/03/06/thread_theory/comment-page-1/#comment-73284 micah Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:32:51 +0000 http://www.rants.org/2008/03/06/threads_threads_threads/#comment-73284 Hmmm, so everything is a thread? Or perhaps..... a wave?! Gasp! Senior Fogel, I advise you to initiate patent-infringement proceedings immediately Hmmm, so everything is a thread? Or perhaps….. a wave?! Gasp!

Senior Fogel, I advise you to initiate patent-infringement proceedings immediately

]]> By: Eitan Greenberg http://www.rants.org/2008/03/06/thread_theory/comment-page-1/#comment-72320 Eitan Greenberg Sat, 13 Jun 2009 10:17:01 +0000 http://www.rants.org/2008/03/06/threads_threads_threads/#comment-72320 I wholeheartedly agree. I live inside my mail client and prefer mailgroups to forums because I can view the data in my customized view - and all in one place. I wholeheartedly agree. I live inside my mail client and prefer mailgroups to forums because I can view the data in my customized view – and all in one place.

]]> By: Karl Fogel http://www.rants.org/2008/03/06/thread_theory/comment-page-1/#comment-15338 Karl Fogel Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:46:32 +0000 http://www.rants.org/2008/03/06/threads_threads_threads/#comment-15338 <p>(Hi, Silona!) Yeah, partial automation of FAQ maintenance would be a great thing, and is long overdue… Although what would work best there might be not the thread (which is long and discursive and in some ways ill-defined, since it can include different messages depending on which database you draw it from), but rather a summary of the thread, with references to particular messages. Something like what <a href="http://summarydesk.tigris.org/" rel="nofollow">SummaryDesk</a> was started to do, but unfortunately that project is stalled due to limited time… <img src='http://www.rants.org/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':-)' class='wp-smiley' /></p> (Hi, Silona!) Yeah, partial automation of FAQ maintenance would be a great thing, and is long overdue… Although what would work best there might be not the thread (which is long and discursive and in some ways ill-defined, since it can include different messages depending on which database you draw it from), but rather a summary of the thread, with references to particular messages. Something like what SummaryDesk was started to do, but unfortunately that project is stalled due to limited time… :-)

]]> By: Silona http://www.rants.org/2008/03/06/thread_theory/comment-page-1/#comment-15336 Silona Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:02:35 +0000 http://www.rants.org/2008/03/06/threads_threads_threads/#comment-15336 also ... you know what I want to do with connect the dots... all pieces are stored in a db and the user can change the connection btn the datapoints between different metrics such as date or popularity. also … you know what I want to do with connect the dots…

all pieces are stored in a db and the user can change the connection btn the datapoints between different metrics such as date or popularity.

]]> By: Silona http://www.rants.org/2008/03/06/thread_theory/comment-page-1/#comment-15333 Silona Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:52:30 +0000 http://www.rants.org/2008/03/06/threads_threads_threads/#comment-15333 I completely agree they really are similar data. Juliette Melton and I were also talking about this at the tools of change conference in NYC. We also wanted to take it up a notch and allow people to vote on and tag threads as well so that really good ones could migrate easily into FAQs and knowledge bases. I completely agree they really are similar data.

Juliette Melton and I were also talking about this at the tools of change conference in NYC.

We also wanted to take it up a notch and allow people to vote on and tag threads as well so that really good ones could migrate easily into FAQs and knowledge bases.

]]> By: Karl Fogel http://www.rants.org/2008/03/06/thread_theory/comment-page-1/#comment-15186 Karl Fogel Sat, 15 Mar 2008 19:38:52 +0000 http://www.rants.org/2008/03/06/threads_threads_threads/#comment-15186 That is <em>great</em> to hear (speaking as a heavy Mailman user), thanks! That is great to hear (speaking as a heavy Mailman user), thanks!

]]> By: Barry Warsaw http://www.rants.org/2008/03/06/thread_theory/comment-page-1/#comment-15184 Barry Warsaw Sat, 15 Mar 2008 19:26:16 +0000 http://www.rants.org/2008/03/06/threads_threads_threads/#comment-15184 Karl, I couldn't agree with you more. I've been thinking about many of the same issues over the years and plan to do something about it in Mailman 3. I've written about some of my plans in the mailman-developers mailing list, and that would be a good place for people to visit if they want to participate in making this real. GNU Mailman: http://www.list.org Mailman wiki: http://wiki.list.org Karl, I couldn’t agree with you more. I’ve been thinking about many of the same issues over the years and plan to do something about it in Mailman 3. I’ve written about some of my plans in the mailman-developers mailing list, and that would be a good place for people to visit if they want to participate in making this real.

GNU Mailman: http://www.list.org
Mailman wiki: http://wiki.list.org

]]> By: Karl Fogel http://www.rants.org/2008/03/06/thread_theory/comment-page-1/#comment-14822 Karl Fogel Mon, 10 Mar 2008 05:23:05 +0000 http://www.rants.org/2008/03/06/threads_threads_threads/#comment-14822 I think what you encountered at Gmane *are* forums, actually. They're also mailing lists :-). You can reply to them from Gmane, without leaving your web browser. I usually use quoting to indicate precisely what part of a message I'm responding too -- actually, one of my gripes about a lot of web-based forum software is that it usually doesn't paste in the original message (with ">" or other reply markers) automatically, thus making quoting more work than it needs to be. (For example, my blog's comment software doesn't give me quote marks for the comment I'm following up to; if it had, I would have done so here.) Gmane's forums get it right, though: if you choose the 'followup' action, it'll provide you with the quoted message, email-style. I think what you encountered at Gmane *are* forums, actually. They’re also mailing lists :-) . You can reply to them from Gmane, without leaving your web browser.

I usually use quoting to indicate precisely what part of a message I’m responding too — actually, one of my gripes about a lot of web-based forum software is that it usually doesn’t paste in the original message (with “>” or other reply markers) automatically, thus making quoting more work than it needs to be. (For example, my blog’s comment software doesn’t give me quote marks for the comment I’m following up to; if it had, I would have done so here.)

Gmane’s forums get it right, though: if you choose the ‘followup’ action, it’ll provide you with the quoted message, email-style.

]]> By: Denny Schlesinger http://www.rants.org/2008/03/06/thread_theory/comment-page-1/#comment-14821 Denny Schlesinger Mon, 10 Mar 2008 05:02:51 +0000 http://www.rants.org/2008/03/06/threads_threads_threads/#comment-14821 Karl: I couldn't find a forum at Gmane but I found some very interesting things. First, they have a threading diagram just like the one CompuServe used to use. I'm very comfortable with that and it effectively turns the mailing list into a forum format confirming what you said: <I>Conversational threads on the Internet should be independent of the medium they’re displayed in. That is, mailing lists, newsgroups, and web forums are all the same thing. They’re just different interfaces to the same data structure, and that data structure is the thread: a series of messages with directional reply relationships to one another. </I> The one difference that stood out is that in a forum you don't need to quote as much as when replying to email since you are already following the thread and, when in doubt, you can always bring up the original instantly. Second, I chanced on a discussion about mailing lists vs. forums :) http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.emulators.wine.devel/57000/focus=57072 Karl:

I couldn’t find a forum at Gmane but I found some very interesting things. First, they have a threading diagram just like the one CompuServe used to use. I’m very comfortable with that and it effectively turns the mailing list into a forum format confirming what you said:

Conversational threads on the Internet should be independent of the medium they’re displayed in. That is, mailing lists, newsgroups, and web forums are all the same thing. They’re just different interfaces to the same data structure, and that data structure is the thread: a series of messages with directional reply relationships to one another.

The one difference that stood out is that in a forum you don’t need to quote as much as when replying to email since you are already following the thread and, when in doubt, you can always bring up the original instantly.

Second, I chanced on a discussion about mailing lists vs. forums :)

http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.emulators.wine.devel/57000/focus=57072

]]> By: Karl Fogel http://www.rants.org/2008/03/06/thread_theory/comment-page-1/#comment-14816 Karl Fogel Mon, 10 Mar 2008 02:30:53 +0000 http://www.rants.org/2008/03/06/threads_threads_threads/#comment-14816 How do you feel about <a href="http://gmane.org/" rel="nofollow">Gmane</a> forums? All the code there is free, I'm pretty sure. How do you feel about Gmane forums?
All the code there is free, I’m pretty sure.

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