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Copyright © 1990-2005 by Prof. Timo Salmi
Last modified Sat 5-Nov-2005 08:40:59

Counting since 4.11.2005

What does "Subject: Re: none" mean on the Usenet news?

And other subject aspects

Originally from
ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/link/tsfaqn.zip
Questions from Usenet and Timo's answers

It means that someone has posted a message without anything in the subject header. Leaving the subject blank is an irrational thing to do. On top of that net rules (the netiquette) don't exactly love it, consider the way in which many users (I included) read the Usenet news. Because of the deluge of postings, readers first scan the subjects only to decide if anything is worth a closer look. The most likely result is that postings with no subjects, or uninformative subjects (such as "Help", "Help urgently needed", "Information requested", "A question", "Read this", and so on) get summarily bypassed. In the face of the increasing spam (unsolicited and misplaced advertisements) postings with certain key words in the subject header, such as "free money", "$$$" and "XXX", are routinely bypassed by many experienced readers of the Usenet news. The same can go to typical come-ons like "check this out".

Conclusion: If you post, use informative subject headers. That way your posting has a much better chance of being noticed by the potentially interested parties. It works to your own advantage.

What was said in the above also goes for email messages. Especially if you receive much email (like I do) you will soon notice how much easier it is to keep things organized if the email messages have descriptive subject headers. Often even any subject header is better than none. To give one example. Even if I am very pleased to get email stating "thank you for your help" I am usually left quite baffled. Getting and sending so much email myself I often have no idea what I am being thanked for. Putting in some kind of a reference (whether the email concerns thanks or some other situation) helps the receiver to place your email correctly.

The topic of a Usenet news discussion has changed from the original. Should I adjust the subject header?

The usual tenet is that if you essentially change the subject on the Usenet news then you should reflect that in subject header. Unfortunately, it is not quite that simple. There are considerable pros and cons, so you have to use your common sense to strike a balance.

Pros:

Used right, it keeps things organized!
It is easier for the other readers to see what the current subject is.

Cons:

Keeping track of a thread easily becomes problematic. Even more so, if the thread subdivides into several sub-directions. Overdoing the subject changing can easily lead to an utterly confusing tangle.
Depending on your newsreader program, killfiling threads which one does not wish to see is made much more difficult. Unfortunately, some Usenet news abusers deliberately exploit this fact.
Who is to decide when a subject has essentially changed? Setting aside instances of obvious net abuse, in the final analysis the decision lies with the poster of the message.

If you change the subject, do it e.g. as follows leaving at least a part of the original subject. Assume the original subject is

Subject: Re: Changing subjects

but the discussion drifts into a debate about FAQ writing. You might change that to

Subject: Read the FAQ Jack (was Re: Changing subjects)

A related question is what one should do about the newsgroup. If the subject changes should one find a better newsgroup for the discussion? Again, it is not that simple. Common sense must prevail both ways.

The subject can quickly become totally off-topic in the original newsgroup. That speaks strongly for the adjustment.
When the discussion is shifted from the original newsgroup, it is quite possible that many of the original discussants will miss the change and drop out. That may sometimes be a boon in disguise, but it is not very conductive in a debate. That speaks against the adjustment.
On the other hand, if the original posting is crossposted to many newsgroups, it is sensible narrow down the followups. In particular, if the crossposting has been excessive and/or irrelevant, you should redirect. (Edit the "Followup-To:" header).

Conclusion: Overdoing the adjustments leads to fragmentation, under-doing them leads to off-topic postings and the consequent disorder.

[TIP] How to help us help you in news.newusers.questions
Articles with no subject; Canned news.newusers.questions advice
Kirjoita kuvaava otsikko Jukka Korpela (in Finnish)

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