Per https://groups.io/g/GroupManagersForum/wiki/6321/61677
it appears that threads with dissimilar subjects will be merged if the prefix “Re:” is recognized. We have a member that has additional labels added to their email subject on reply that foil automatic thread merging:

[Ext] [<groups.io group name>]

[Ext] Re: [<groups.io group name>]

I propose that in addition to “Re:”, any labels of the syntax “[.*]” be added to this current algorithm. If a regular expression were used then it would not depend on the content within the brackets, merely any subject with brackets would be ignored.

 

On Sun, Jan 30, 2022 at 10:34 AM, @brio wrote:

[Ext] [<groups.io group name>]

One of our Canadian members creates a similar situation when the subject line of his replies via email becomes Objet : [GroupName], thus starting a new topic.  In one case, he replied several times, starting a new topic each time because it ended up as Objet : Objet : Objet : [GroupName].

Duane

On 2022-01-30 11:15, brio50 via groups.io wrote:

I propose that in addition to “Re:”, any labels of the syntax “[.*]” be added to this current algorithm. If a regular expression were used then it would not depend on the content within the brackets, merely any subject with brackets would be ignored.

If by that you mean ignore anything (except the groupname) within [] then that could be problematic because there are words that are commonly used with square brackets.

One of our Canadian members creates a similar situation when the subject line of his replies via email becomes Objet : [GroupName], thus starting a new topic.  In one case, he replied several times, starting a new topic each time because it ended up as Objet : Objet : Objet : [GroupName].

What's up with Canadians, eh?  I also have a Canadian member in a group whose email replies add "Ré:" and it creates the exact same situation regarding topics.  I did report it back in December, https://beta.groups.io/g/main/message/31138.

Ideally it would be nice to have a textbox in Settings->Message Policies where the admin can specify any of those "ignore prefixes", so then it gets included in the master list when the message is checked for threading.  This way it can be left up to the admins to take care of it instead of having to be manually added by Mark to the master list when a situation like this arises.

Cheers,
Christos

Mark,
I've also been getting [external] noted on my original msg  in some replies from ngos and financial companies.
--

Bob Bellizzi
FuchsFriends@groups.io online  support  group for corneal dystrophy patients & caregivers
The Corneal Dystrophy Foundation 

On Wed, 02 Feb 2022 19:31:35 -0000, Mark Fletcher <markf@corp.groups.io> wrote:

On Wed, Feb 2, 2022 at 10:51 AM Bob Bellizzi <cdfexec@...> wrote:

I've also been getting [external] noted on my original msg  in some replies from ngos and financial companies.

We now ignore '[external]' as well.

On Wed, 02 Feb 2022 21:34:28 -0000, Mark Fletcher <markf@corp.groups.io> wrote:

On Wed, Feb 2, 2022 at 1:26 PM Malcolm Austen <malcolm.austen@...> wrote:

It may already be on your list Mark ... I have seen [ext] (and [EXT]) starting to appear in reply subject lines.

Those have been removed for quite some time now. I'm not sure how you are seeing that; I just tested it and it strips [ext] from the subject line as expected.

Malcolm.

Mark,

Are these case-sensitive?

We have many replies with [EXTERNAL] in the Subject line.  It has annoyed other group members.  Also I need to move each of them back into their original topic because [EXTERNAL] causes it to start a new topic, at least until now.

I have not looked up how this all works.  Are you saying that, when one of these identified strings is found, (1) groups.io keeps the message in the original message topic, and (2) strips the text from the Subject line before blasting it out by email?

Andy

I think the most robust approach is for any subject:

1. use a regular expression to find substrings that begin with “[“ and end with “]” and replace them with empty. This way you don’t have to have a list various combinations of [Ext] or [EXTERNAL] or [Groupname]

or, even better:

2. I agree with Christos, it would be ideal to allow a list of prefixes to ignore by group. This way we don’t have to worry about different languages and subtle nuances. Again, regular expression syntax would be the most powerful!

On Wed, Feb 2, 2022 at 1:26 PM Malcolm Austen <malcolm.austen@...> wrote:

 

It may already be on your list Mark ... I have seen [ext] (and [EXT]) starting to appear in reply subject lines.

 

Those have been removed for quite some time now. I'm not sure how you are seeing that; I just tested it and it strips [ext] from the subject line as expected.

 

Thanks,

Mark 

On Thu, Feb 3, 2022 at 11:03 AM, @brio wrote:

I think the most robust approach is for any subject:

1. use a regular expression to find substrings that begin with “[“ and end with “]” and replace them with empty. ...

That would be a problem.  Subject lines can have important detail in [square brackets] which must not be removed, put there by the sender her/himself.

Groupnames should be retained - though repeating duplicate Groupnames should be compacted if possible.

I don't think Mark said he excluded [Ext] yet.  He said [ext] and [EXT] but [Ext] is neither of those.

Andy

Thanks Mark for the [EXT] fix! I really appreciate your time and consideration here!

With regards to:

I'm not going to remove any arbitrary data between brackets. If there are specific subject prefixes that should be removed, I'm happy to add them, but I believe that the universe of desired prefixes to remove is probably quite small/finite.

Then what about adding this feature so that prefix removal is controlled at the group level:

Ideally it would be nice to have a textbox in Settings->Message Policies where the admin can specify any of those "ignore prefixes", so then it gets included in the master list when the message is checked for threading.  This way it can be left up to the admins to take care of it instead of having to be manually added by Mark to the master list when a situation like this arises.

Thanks Mark, it already started making a difference on that one group's topic display.

Cheers,
Christos