If a thread takes months, is it better to stay on the same thread?

[Danny D.]

dadiOH wrote, on Sun, 12 Oct 2014 05:53:55 -0400:

I don't use any of the buttons as I have them all hidden (to save real estate on the GUI) but it does have a "next unread" but I never use it.

What I do is "cherry pick" the threads to read, and then, when I exit a newsgroup, it automagically marks everything read (even if I didn't read it).

Then, when I come back in, it shows the new threads in bold, and the new posts in old threads show up with a +n where the n is the number of new posts to that thread since I last read it.

So, again, I cherry pick, but, usually only from the bolded (i.e., brand new) posts or threads.

[Zaky Waky]

"ChairMan" wrote in news:gdj_v.357475$ [e-mail]:

+3

[CRNG]

On Sat, 11 Oct 2014 18:33:21 +0000 (UTC), "Danny D." wrote in

I prefer sticking with the same thread so I can have everything related to that thread in the same place.

[micky]

I do this because this group often has threads that go on for months, and new threads have forced one of those threads off the screeen.

Another thing I could do is de-expand all threads with no unread posts. Then more threads fit on the screen and the 3 or 4 screens above it (in your case, below it). And when a new post arrives in one of those threads, it expands the thread and is very noticeable and easy to find. But I don't like doing that for some reason, so instead, I display the posts chronlogically, and when I don't understaned the context, highlight the post in question and resort by thread.

Even if you want to go back and re-read something? Or think you might want want to reply to something? Anyhow, I can mark every post in a thread read, but with Agent, I don't think there is no way to mark a thread as read** Which is fine because if a new post comes, I want to notice it. **One can Ignore a thread, which is fine sometimes, but unfortunately it just doesn't dl posts in that thread anymore, and sometimes, with thread drift, I want to see the headers for a later posts.

Yes, it's hard to post with others in mind, because many people read differently from my way too.

[Danny D.]

micky wrote, on Sun, 12 Oct 2014 13:57:14 -0400:

It *is* a pain if I'm specifically *looking* for a post within a thread. In generaly, I go to google.groups and do a search to find stuff that I know was in a specific thread.

With Pan, you can mark an entire thread as read, or an article, but, mine is set up, by default, to mark *every* thread as read whenever I *exit* the newsgroup.

So, my use model is to go in, and see what's new, and then leave, where the vast majority of threads and articles go unread, but, when I leave, they're *all* marked read, so that the next time I go in, only the new stuff is bolded.

I use that a lot, to either ignore a thread or to ignore any posts by someone specifically. (That keeps me out of arguments.)

I think Pan is similar in that once a thread is ignored, it's gone forever (unless we wipe out the Pan directory and start anew).

[Danny D.]

CRNG wrote, on Sun, 12 Oct 2014 07:59:59 -0500:

I'll update the original thread. Thanks for the advice.

[micky]

FWIW Agent keeps the headers that had been dl'd before Ignoring, and it keeps the bodies for those headers too, if they were dl'd. But everything that follows is ignored.

[gregz]

Instead of trying to read hundreds of posts, it would be much easier to search for a paticular problem, and get the answer much faster. Subject lines define the search first.

Greg