ramifications of tweaks to subject line

[Kurt Buff]

Gmail doesn't follow message headers for threading - it seems to use
the subject line, though that looks problematic at times.

But, changing the subject line guarantees that threading is lost to
Gmail users. Possibly others as well.

If the thread branches because the matter under discussion changes,
then it's reasonable to change the subject line. Better for everyone,
though, is to start a new thread, with a new message that isn't a
reply-to or forward from the original thread, possibly using
copy/paste of desired content.

Kurt

On Thu, Jan 12, 2017 at 10:51 AM, Gary Aitken <freebsd at dreamchaser.org> wrote:
> Can someone summarize the ramifications of tweaking the subject line
> in a post?
>
> Assume:
>   Some-original-subject
> Normal reply yields:
>   Re: Some-original-subject
>
> If a reply is made and the subject line is (mistake, whatever) trashed,
> then manually re-inserted, does
>   re: Some-original-subject
> (change in case of Re) preserve threading?
> Does change in case of words in subject line preserve threading?
> More generally, what permutations of the original text still preserve
> threading -- addition/deletion of various kinds of white-space, etc.
> Is threading solely in the domain of the mail reader, or is there
> something in the header besides the text of the header itself that
> aids threading?
>
> If a subject digresses and one changes the subject line to
>   Re: New-subject (was: Some-original-subject)
> is threading preserved?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Gary
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