Sandman
In article <tqqul9tmv3qfb7k5ti4biibj1705shn47j@4ax.com>, Eric Stevens wrote:

Oh, and please answer my related post as well -

Tony Cooper
We are still waiting for substantiation - which you "always" provide - that Forte Agent is a broken newsreader that doesn't conform to the standards for a newsreader.

Sandman
What standards? I said non-standard, not "not conforming to standards for a newsreader". Why can't you read?

Eric Stevens
Do you _really_ think that that is an adequate answer?

Sandman
Yup!

Eric Stevens
I have several times asked you to refer me to an RFC or similar which defines what is and what isn't a thread. Don't again point me to section 3.4.4 of RFC 3577 as it does nothing of the sort.

Sandman
That's 5537, and actually it does. It defines the structure of the References header, which is what you refer to as the "sequencing". There is NO sequencing using the Subject header, only via the References header.

But this RFC says nothing about how a client should *display* articles, because "threading" has nothing to do with display. It's only information in the headers about which post and OP the post is in relation to. The client can choose to display the articles any damn way it pleases.

Your mistake is thinking that the way YOUR news client displays articles in any way defines what a "thread" is.

Many news clients have the option of viewing the articles unthreaded, but the default - as I have shown - is to show them threaded, and to use the only sequencing information available to them to do so - the References header.

Here's a screenshot of Unison (that Savageduck is using):

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Note that the post is part of the thread. Here is a screenshot of Thunderbird, which probably is the most used usenet reader:

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Note that the post is part of the thread. Here is a screenshot of slrn, which I am using. It's also an old school and proven client that has been around for ages:

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Note that the post is part of the thread. Here is a screenshot of tin, also a widely used oldschool client that has been around for ages:

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Note that the post is part of the thread. Here is a screenshot of GOogle Groups, which is an even bigger POS than Agent, but actually show threads correctly:

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Note that the post is part of the thread. I would have liked to show you a screenshot from MT-NewsWatcher, my favorite news cliet, that unfortunately isn't supported any longer and doesn't work on the latest version of OSX, but needlesstosay, it displays threads as they should be displayed, like in all the examples above.

See - plenty of substantiation. That's how it's done.

Eric Stevens
You are a clown if you think that this is a matter which can be determined by a vote of newsreaders of your selection.

Sandman
WTF? This is the *standard* way it is done, I have just substantiated that by showing many clients and how they do it. I've even gathered even more screenshots since this was posted.

Eric Stevens
But here is how Agent handles it when configured as I prefer.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/31088803/Agent%20Thread.jpg

Sandman
I don't care about Agent. This isn't about Agent - or even any of the aforementioned clients either.

Eric Stevens
I hope working out how it handles the threading is not beyond you.

Sandman
Yeah, it's a total mess.