Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site minn-ua.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!we13!ihnp4!stolaf!umn-cs!minn-ua!sew From: sew@minn-ua.UUCP Newsgroups: net.news Subject: Re: A Thought on Newsgroup Structure (lo - (nf) Message-ID: <923@minn-ua.UUCP> Date: Mon, 30-Jan-84 21:31:48 EST Article-I.D.: minn-ua.923 Posted: Mon Jan 30 21:31:48 1984 Date-Received: Mon, 6-Feb-84 15:47:26 EST Sender: notes@minn-ua.UUCP Organization: Univ. of Minn. Computer Center, Minneapolis Lines: 34 #R:druxt:-88400:minn-ua:10900001:000:1456 minn-ua!sew Jan 30 12:39:00 1984 (A non-blank first line seems to be an obscure net custom) The "notes" programs already seem to meet your description pretty well. Notes presents messages as messages with responses tacked on to them. Its index shows the title of the original message and the number of responses. A message is thus similar to a subgroup with a bunch of messages in it. This is as if each message were its own subgroup. You can manually select the message which you want to read, then you can step through the responses in sequence. This is similar to reading a news file with a program which simply presents the messages in the sequence received. If you're using the sequencer, if a message has any new responses then you first are shown the original message and then the new responses. This is similar to using a program which only prints the news received since the last time you read news. As for getting rid of stale subjects, "notes" keeps a message and all its responses if the most recent response is less than a certain age. I think at our site a message is deleted if there have been no new responses in two weeks, but all this is implementation dependent. There might be some similar programs. As "notes" shows, modifying usenet news is not necessary. It can be (is?) done with the "References" line in a message header, which contains the message-ID of the original message. From the analog digits of Scot E. Wilcoxon ...ihnp4!umn-cs!minn-ua!sew