[Mailman-Users] archive - ergonomics of date

[Richard Barrett]

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Why not join in and volunteer to help with improving the Mailman  
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On Friday, July 18, 2003, at 12:25 AM, Tyrus Maynard wrote:

> I have questions about the way that index listings of postings is  
> displayed in Mailman for all sorted listing ...sorted by  
> Date,Subject/Thread or Author. This is not about search tools, only  
> the sorted lists offered for browsing.
>
>  1. Why is date not shown for all sorted posting lists in Mailman ?
>     (Why is date not shown for ANY sorted posting lists  )
>
> 1a  Why is date not provided/shown for  a list by DATE sorting?
>    Now WHY would I want an index sorted by DATE that scrolls over more  
> than a screenfull  WITHOUT having the Date provided on each entry.
> How many clicks do I want to execute to find the "sweet spot" in a  
> long list  that  approximates  April 15,2002  ...Mailman archiving  
> forces the opening of multiple irrelevant postings just to find an  
> approximate date to begin browsing for old content.
>   It is unthinkable to me to provide a SORTED list without the content  
> of the SORT FIELD being displayed  ...if you don't believe me try the  
> same for a subject sort or an author sort.  I really don't do games on  
> computers ....except at a Mailman Date archive, where I can play hit  
> the  "pinnata" with multiple blind mouse clicks.
>
> 1b  Why is date not shown for a listing by Thread/Subject?
>   Let me propose that the date of a message is also important to  
> evaluating its  significance. For threads that are familiar (whether  
> followed or particpating poster) I retain a rough chronology of the  
> conversation.  Also,when I visit a new thread, I know that sometimes  
> an important post is an OUTLIER .... separated in time from the  
> starting post. Outliers often provide thoughtful informative followup   
> (on an active list an outlier may be hours old compared to minutes  
> old).   I don't claim that  outliers are always significant, but the  
> TIME SEQUENCE of a SUBJECT THREAD gives important clues to the  
> conversation.   Also it is important to revisiting a thread  which is  
> well remembered, because the basic FLOW of CONVERSATION may also be  
> recalled on a revisit.  Date is an important clue in a sorted listing   
> by subject.
>
> 1c  Why is date not shown for listing by Author ?
>
>  Do lists have dominant Authors posting important stuff? Yes.
> The way I remember an old post is this:
>  "That important security issue, that I can't remember the name of  
> (and which probably doesn't have "security" as a search term)"
>   Posted by  "Guru Joe"   (who knows alot about security on this list)
>   Posted in  "January or February of 2002"
> Naturally I would like to browse the Author listing of Guru Joe and  
> find the  region around Jan Feb 2002  ....not much fun in a Mailman  
> archive ...unless you enjoy !
>
>   Interestingly solving 1a,1b,1c does not require any new algorithm,  
> ...just piping the existing data into the display ... the existing  
> spacing of  sorted list display  has available whitespace.
>  (Now at the end of my sermon, please tell me it was a wasted appeal,  
> and that there is already an overlooked  toggle setting to display  
> date somewhere in the admin interface)
>
>  This link to a long thread on "Future of Pipermail" is old
> http://mail.python.org/pipermail/mailman-developers/2000-November/ 
> 007823.html
>   This is a clue to me that the future is NOW and the archiver is  
> languishing from developer interest ...to any developer on this user  
> list,please post this DATE issue into the developer-list.
>
>  I hope my pitch for DATE DISPLAY is well received by developers who  
> follow this userlist and provocative enough to earn a short thread and  
> priority in the next version.
> Thanks
>
> Tyrus Maynard
>
>
>
>
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