Thank you Gordon for stating the problem so well. May take this one step further and remind one and all that many of us do not get to read our e-mails everyday (as I am now only home 3 nights a week due to business) and so I encourage our list administrators to ease up on the closure under penalty rules. If a subject line bothers someone - simple do like you do with "V.I.A>G.R.a" et al e-mails: hit the delete key. Case in point: Earlier this week there was a subject making the rounds on this very Ontario list. As it turns out I was out teaching my students in a burial ground the very evening that the penalty clause was put into effect by our list Mom. I had not been home the previous evening - and so was not aware of the thread being discussed. The very topic that people were anxious for a reliable answer on I was discussing with my students, and now it grieves me to state that I can not share my knowledge with the rest of this wonderful list. It is my sincere wish that Members of Parliament, The Senate, and other agencies involving mandarins do not impose closure upon other genealogical concerns being discussed as rapidly as some lists impose it on-line. So - please note Gordon's suggestions - and to the list moderators who are reading this please consider a minimum three day period before ending the dialogue. If a subject line becomes tedious or bothersome to you - use your delete key! Respectfully submitted for your information. Cheers! J. Brian Gilchrist, 1969 - 2004: 35 years researching at The Archives of Ontario. Genealogical and Archival research analyst, Box 74503, 270 The Kingsway, ETOBICOKE, Ontario M9A 5E2 gilchrists@idirect.com "I have the reputation of being fearless and decided, and whether correct or not, it saves me much trouble." - written by the Honourable and Right Reverend John Strachan, 1st Anglican Bishop of Toronto in 1846. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gordon A. Watts" <gordon_watts@telus.net> To: <ONTARIO-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: 2004 Sep 24 3:12 PM Subject: [ONT] Subject lines > Greetings All. > > Just a short note to make a request for wording of Subject lines when > posting to the lists. > > There are certain characters that when used in the subject line of a > post serve to concatenate (shorten) the subject line of posts shown when > receiving posts in Digest Mode. To date I have determined that two of > those characters are ':' and '/' (without the ' '). There are likely > others but these are the only ones that I have verified to date. > > An example of what I am talking about is the following. In ONT Digest > #385 there are five messages with subject lines as follows. > > Re: [ONT] Re: graves face east/REPLY > Re: Fw: [ONT] Re: graves face east/REPLY > RE: Fw: [ONT] Re: graves face east/REPLY > Re: Fw: [ONT] Re: graves face east/REPLY > FROM LIST ADMIN - heads up! RE: Fw: [ONT] Re: graves face east/REPLY > > In each case the subject line is shortened by the '/' before REPLY. The > resultant visible subject line in Digest Mode (before opening the posts) > for each of the posts above are shown respectively as > > REPLY (2.41 KB) > REPLY (609 bytes) > REPLY (1.13 KB) > REPLY (1.28 KB) > REPLY (1.18 KB) > > Once opened the full subject line is visible as it likely always is for > those who receive in List Mode. For someone receiving in Digest Mode > you can see this might be a problem. To save time I depend greatly on > the subject line to determine if I am likely to be interested in the > particular post. I suspect others do likewise. > > I use Outlook Express and this situation may not be applicable to other > mail programs but I have no knowledge of that. I only know that it > creates a problem for me, and I suspect for many others. > > Happy Hunting. > > Gordon A. Watts gordon_watts@telus.net > Co-chair Canada Census Committee > Port Coquitlam, BC > > http://www.globalgenealogy.com/Census > en francais http://www.globalgenealogy.com/Census/Index_f > > > > > ==== ONTARIO Mailing List ==== > Can't find a town/township/county in Ontario? Try the > Ontario Locator at http://www.rootsweb.com/~canon/locator/ OR > Canadian Geographical Names at > http://GeoNames.NRCan.gc.ca/english/ > >