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[PSUBS-MAILIST] Email Archive (was: Hello Emile)




Hi Frank,

You made some excellent points, particularly about using accurate and descriptive subject lines for topics. The email archive collates messages by subject, or thread, which would make things somewhat easier to find if we were more disciplined about the way we write or respond to topics. However, in the grand scope of things I think the shear volume of email just makes simple searches for information impossible and you are likely going to have to spend some time searching through the archives for the information you want.

While its easy to just hit the "reply" button on your email software, it makes sense to take the time to write an appropriate subject header. We should only "reply" to a topic when the subject matter matches the content you expect to respond to. Otherwise, create a new subject header that accurately describes the topic you are going to write about. Frank, you also touched on the other reason to rewrite the subject header appropriately, which is because many people do a quick scan of the subject of incoming email for topics they are interested in or have knowledge about rather than reading every message. The chances of someone answering a query about motor compensation fall rapidly when the subject is "hello emile".

The ADVANCED features of the web site search engine is your friend in this case and I did find the topic you remembered from a previous thread (june/2009). However, in keeping with good policy and my own preaching, I will send a pointer to it in another email that is appropriately titled.

Jon


ShellyDalg@aol.com wrote:
It was about 6 months ago that there was a fairly complete explanation of just how a Minnkota was dis-assembled, drilled, and reassembled with special precautions on watching for metal shavings from drilling and a few other bits of wisdom on where to drill the hole and what was used as a hose/reservoir and other things. I don't remember who had posted it but the thread had some input from several members, all with suggestions and advice on how exactly they had proceeded. A thorough search of the mail list archives would bring this to light again. It's true that a simple step by step explanation with photos and all would be helpful but some time spent searching the archives can turn up all kids of interesting stuff, this being but one of the many good threads in recent times. Perhaps having the threads and subjects organized into a more user friendly configuration could be possible but it's a pretty big undertaking to back track through all the old stuff, sort out what's relevant, divy up into subjects.......Ya, a huge chore.
There was even a thread about THAT a while back.
For now, it's just a bit of work to go through what's there in it's current format. Time consuming for sure but worth it if you have a specific problem you're trying to overcome. Still, it's much easier to just ask the question and see if any good answers come back. I for one don't mind putting in my two cents on a subject that's been covered several times before but not everyone reads every note on every thread so it's a hit-or-miss method at best. Like I said, a little time searching the old stuff is often worth the effort if you have the time and need a bit of advice. Maybe it could be possible to generate a list of "SUBJECTS" that would make future threads a little easier to group together. For instance.....this thread called "hello Emile" is unlikely to be looked at if a guy was looking for info on compensating a Minnkota and trying to narrow down the search. If however there was a list of subjects published and a thread was begun that could fit roughly into one of these subject headings, maybe the writer could use the "subject line" to label a thread as one from the published list and then add a couple words that were a little more specific to the actual info contained within the post. An example for the subject could be........Subject: Re:[PSUBS-MAILIST] Minnkota ( oil compensating ) and then someone replying could write Subject: Re{PSUBS-MAILIST] Minnkota ( disassembly ) Then another guy who wanted to chime in with a related but different approach could write Subject: Re:[PSUBS-MAILIST] Minnkota ( WD40 oil ) and then................
Ok, you get the idea.
Not being a good computer whiz I don't really know if this would work but it's something that could be considered or at least thought about to make the searching a little easier. I know it's something that's been brought up a couple of times but for now.....ya just gotta look a bit and spend some time checking the old stuff. I've got this great big pile of stuff that I printed out and just stuffed into a folder, thinking if I need it later there's a hard copy in there some where. Lots of times I'll be leafing through that file looking for something I remembered printing and find other little treasures I had forgotten about. OK, I'm not a very good secretary either but I can always find it if I want to, just takes a while. Sorry if I'm rambling but I'm dead tired and headed for bed. I guess the message here is, check the archives if you don't get an answer. Frank D.




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