[mdlug] Are there any clients that support sub-thread blocking?

[Kristian Erik Hermansen]

On Sun, Feb 24, 2008 at 6:59 PM, Clinton V. Weiss <cvweiss at gmail.com> wrote:
>  This causes the whole thread to be ignored, which isn't what I want.
>  I'm looking to ignore sub-threads, take for example a thread that may
>  look like this:
>
>  Interesting thread
>  -Interesting reply
>  --Interesting reply
>  ---somewhat interesting political comparison
>  ----political rant  (ignore this and it's sub-threads)
>  -----political rant (ignored)
>  ------political rant (ignored)
>  -Interesting reply
>  --Interesting reply

I'm sure it could be done, by utilizing the "In Reply To" message id.
GMaill does not seem to have this feature.  Try requesting it.  Of
course, some people may reply in interesting ways, and perhaps
omitting the "In Reply To" message id, which would cause some
issues...

>  If I use mute or any ignore equivalent, the majority of browsers will
>  cause the whole thread to be ignored.  Raymond made a good point that
>  ignoring certain sub-threads may cause me to miss some of the good
>  stuff - that's something I can live with since I chose to ignore that
>  particular sub-thread.  It isn't much different than ignoring a whole
>  thread and possibly missing a useful nugget or two.

It is not a function of the web browser...

>  I'm just looking to personally ignore the thread branches which are of
>  little value to myself.  This could apply to political discussions,
>  ethical discussions, or even discussions on the differences between
>  Suse and Debian.

Sure...

>  Ignoring a whole thread is a bad idea.  Let's say a particular thread
>  with many off-topic discussions is ignored by me, and eventually dies.
>   The root of this thread may have been something interesting which
>  someones, maybe weeks or months later, decides to add their own good
>  content to the thread.  If I've ignored the whole thread, I'll never
>  know that person's contribution.  If I can ignore particular
>  sub-threads which are of little value, then I'm running a smaller
>  risk.

OK.  But I tend to think of it like a spreading bacteria.  Once the
rants start going, I'm not interested any longer and hit that mute
feature :-)  Sure, I may miss something, but the benefit far outweighs
the loss IMHO.  If we had the sub-mute feature, I would use it
perhaps!
-- 
Kristian Erik Hermansen
--
"It has been just so in all my inventions. The first step is an
intuition--and comes with a burst, then difficulties arise. This thing
gives out and then that--'Bugs'--as such little faults and
difficulties are called--show themselves and months of anxious
watching, study and labor are requisite before commercial success--or
failure--is certainly reached" -- Thomas Edison in a letter to
Theodore Puskas on November 18, 1878