[AT] farmer and Gmail... subject changed again! No tractor content

Stephen Offiler soffiler at gmail.com
Thu Feb 12 09:06:58 PST 2009


Thanks farmer.  With Mattias's help I learned something new today.
Gmail doesn't automatically give you a subject line in a Reply, but
they DO give you a chance with the "Edit Subject" link, which Mattias
pointed me to, right there in front of my nose.  Frankly I think Gmail
forces this small extra step as a way to discourage changing the
subject line, since doing so makes it a different message and it won't
group correctly in the Gmail archive.

Not that I have any gripes with Gmail.  It's a slick webmail client.
It's very good at grouping messages into a single thread (presumably,
as long as the subject line does not change).  And it encourages you
to just stuff all your old mail into an archive, rather than selecting
what to keep and what to delete permanently.  Essentially you just
keep everything (in the archive) so it's real easy to keep your Inbox
neat and tidy.  If someone decides to post a new response to an older
discussion you've already archived, Gmail will find the whole thing
for you and bring it back to Inbox from the archive.  Now that I am
used to it, I won't be able to go back to any other email client.

As of about a week ago, I began using the Voice and Video Chat feature
of Gmail.  It started like this:  I have a close personal friend who
relocated to Austin years ago and is in the process of moving to
Denver as we speak.  His wife is setting up in Denver, and he remains
in Austin for the short term.  They are both Gmail users and picked up
inexpensive Webcams (about $30) which interface with Gmail's Voice and
Video Chat function very nicely.  Plug and play.  Far better than the
phone, they get to see each other, with quite reasonable video
resolution, and the sound quality far exceeds any telephone.  Totally
free beyond the $30 camera and the normal cost of your Internet
connection.  They encouraged me to pick up a camera too, so I did.
I'll be helping my friend's parents, who live close to me, get set up
with a webcam soon.  The folks have grandkids scattered about the
country and this is going to revolutionize the way they interact.

Sorry, no antique tractor content.  In fact I'm going to change the
subject line accordingly, now that I know how!

SO



On Thu, Feb 12, 2009 at 11:26 AM, Indiana Robinson
<robinson46176 at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Feb 12, 2009 at 9:28 AM, Stephen Offiler <soffiler at gmail.com> wrote:
>> And I, for one, cannot change message subject lines.  I use Google's
>> Gmail, and when you hit "reply" it gives no subject field,
>> automatically forcing use of the existing subject line (a "feature"
>> which I never even noticed until just now!).  But I apologize for what
>> was viewed by some as a pissing contest.  To me it was just a lively
>> discussion and not TERRIBLY off-topic; at least we're still talking
>> about stuff with pistons and valves and gears and things.  And it did
>> start squarely with a tractor reference although it was a modern, not
>> antique.
>>
>> SO
> ==============================
>
>
>
> And it is not like we were being flooded with messages...  :-)
> Not every simple difference of opinion is automatically a pissing contest.
> I just like seeing messages arriving. Many of my best friends are on
> this list and sadly too far away to visit in person freely. If every
> message was exactly on topic we probably would not have even formed
> those friendships.
> Spencer long ago gave us all some very good advice which I regularly
> quote to members of the dozen public list I own. He just said that if
> we didn't like the topic that was being discussed that we should
> introduce a topic that we want to discuss and if the group is
> interested then the conversation will steer that direction.
> -
> Some of us mellow as we age and some of us just get rancid.   ;-)
> There is a reason for the phrase "Grumpy old men".   :-)
> Smile everybody, spring is coming.
>
>
>
> --
> "farmer"
>
> "Good clean muck never hurt nobody!!!"
> Morris Moulterd
>
>
> Hay and Straw Exchange (Buy it, sell it and trade it.)
> http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/HayandStrawExchange
>
>
> Francis Robinson
> Central Indiana USA
> robinson46176 at gmail.com
> _______________________________________________
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>



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