Re: Asking Old Questions Again

From: Joerg Baumgartner <joe_at_toppoint.de>
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 98 00:15 MET DST


Alex Ferguson in Digest V6 #84 re: Nick Hollingsworth
>> It would be a major resource if anyone could provide an undigested
>> archive of all the messages from the various incarnations and
>> versions of the mailing list under one search engine.

>It's a nifty idea. But do you know of off-the-shelf software to do
>this, untouched by human hand?

Heck, I'd settle for an off-the-shelf acceptable-license-fee software and start working at it with my human (I hope) hands, provided their main action would be to mark up terms for a look-up list and not the entire administration.

>> Hopefully the thread structure could be maintained too - much like what
>> Deja News offers for newgroups.

>I don't think that'll work. The Digest format doesn't preserve a
>"references" field, and what's more, most postings don't even have
>threaded subject lines.

Which means you'd need a pattern recognition program to find what was quoted. With the various philosophies on quotes and references, a flexible one, too...

>Changing this only seems feasible if most posters end up reading (and
>hence, replying to) the Digest in undigested form. (Which a few of us
>Hard Core types already do.)

There's always good olde cut'n'paste of the subject line, but I've become sick of the "Was: ..." attachments to (appropriate) changes in the subject lines. Once Upon A Time Henk had X-RQ-IDs attached to each message in a Daily, a Good Thing in my book which could be re-introduced (even by machine).


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