Re: [Pan-users] Maybe solution of watched color dispute?

[Duncan]

On Mon 16 Dec 2002 00:36, Tim Day posted as excerpted below:
> *** New Pan user de-lurks ***
>
> I've been using Pan (0.13.2.92) a bit less than a week now, having
> switched (as part of a personal campaign to kick Bill out of the house).

Welcome and congrats on making the switch.  I did that, rather than switch to 
eXPrivacy, about time it came out, just over a year ago now.

> I've been using the watch/ignore feature a lot: after I visit one of my
> regular NGs, I will probably have classified all the threads into one or
> the other category.  However, there are some pieces missing which I
> think would make the watch/ignore classification a LOT more useful than
> it is at the moment.
>
> What I'd really really really like to see is:
> In the "Groups" display:
>  - An additional column giving the number of "watched unread" posts.
>  - Posts in "Ignored" threads should be exactly that, and not contribute
> to the "Unread" and "Total" counts for a group.
>
> In the "Headers" display:
>  - The ability to sort on thread classification so that all the posts in
> watched threads rise to the top and the ignored ones sink to the
> bottom.
>
> And generally:
>  - As Gollum suggests above, individual control over the display style
> of each combination of watched/unclassified/ignored vs read/unread
> (including control of bold/italic as well as colour) would be real nice.
>  - On the "Newsgroups" menu, an option halfway between "Get New Headers"
> and "Get New Headers and Bodies" which just gets the bodies for watched
> threads.
>
> Apologies if I'm actually completely missing the point of watch/ignore
> here... 

I think you hit it on the head.  Together, those sub-features would make the 
watch/ignore functionality far more useful.  I think what we are doing here, 
however, is taking the "step at a time" approach.  As is, for me, anyway, the 
fact that I can't visually distinguish read/unread in watched threads is a 
show-stopper for that feature, the way I use a newsreader.  Once that 
changes, the feature would be useful enough that I'd start using it, and 
could then appreciate the other changes you mention, should they come to 
pass.

As for ignored... I'd seldom use that anyway, as long as it's thread 
operative, because I've found threads mutate to something interesting without 
changing the subject header often enough that I can't safely ignore an entire 
thread.  Now, if there were some sort of magic "kill posts by this author but 
only for this thread" functionality, I might find THAT useful.  I don't 
killfile folks very often, but would find it useful to do so on some 
subjects/threads, while still getting their posts on other subjects/threads.  
Of course, the planned "scoring" feature will eventually help a lot in this 
regard, as I could set such author's scores such that they just barely show 
up normally, and then lower the score on a thread such that most posts get 
through, but those from already borderline authors do not.  As I said, that 
sort of scoring functionality is scheduled, but not yet implemented, nor has 
it been seriously discussed, yet, as that's still a bit in the future, AFAIK.

-- 
Duncan
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little
temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." --
Benjamin Franklin