Yes. You might feel that "Re: [6lo] Re: [IPv6]WG Last Call on draft-ietf-6lo-" is noise, but in fact that allows me to (a) sort it automatically into the dedicated inbox that I want and (b) to decide at a glance whether I need to read it. Also, there is no List-ID in the message, because it was directly addressed to me so did not actually reach me via the list, although copied there. That's a pretty common case where the [] tag is extremely useful. I think we should keep them. Regards Brian Carpenter On 02-Aug-25 12:43, John C Klensin wrote:
Lyndon, For better or worse, I find those tags immensely helpful in making quick decisions about how to group messages I read (e.g., all of the traffic for one WG before looking at another). Could I search on List-ID? I guess so, but but just doing a little scanning of subject lines is, for me, faster. And "maybe" because I'm using because I'm using a very old MUA that still has features (such as IMAP disconnected mode -- not just offline or online modes) that seem to be very rare in other MUAs that support other important-to-me features and run on the platform I use. I just looked and could set up searches/ filters, but, again, it is easier and more efficient to group mail from IETF lists and then scan subject lines visually for what I want to read and in what order. My guess is you are going to find lots of different experiences and preferences about this rather than the single clear-cut situation you seem to be describing. And, yes, I wish long strings that do me no good and that, IMO, MUAs ought to be filtering out of outbound messages -- "]EXTERNAL]" is a great example -- annoying but don't want to see the baby disappear with the bathwater. best, john --On Friday, August 1, 2025 10:14 -0700 "Lyndon Nerenberg (VE7TFX/VE6BBM)" <lyndon@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:We have had the List-ID header for 24 years now. Any MUA or MDA that can filter on "[xxx]" in the subject header can filter on "<xxx>" in the List-ID header. The need for the [xxx] Subject prefix tags expired long ago. The tags are quite annoying, in that they push the actual Subject header text off the screen. This is especially true for lists with long names, and is compounded when a message from [this-is-a-verbosely-named-list] is forwarded to [this-is-another- list-with-a-chatty-name]; pretty soon the Subject text is rendered invisible. It's time the IETF retired those prefix tags from all of its mailing lists. --lyndon
