when is a reply-eMail succesfully fed into the original thread?

[nnako]

Hello,

I have set up a couple of forums, now, and I am pretty satisfied with nabble's functionality.

Just some things concerning the eMail-reply-function seem not clear to me at this point.


TECHNICAL CRITERIA FOR SUCCESFUL REPLY
When user [A] posts a new message into a forum (or sub-forum), where user [B] subscribed for eMail notification, user [B] will get [A]'s new message via eMail and can read and reply using his standard eMail client. When user [B] replies to this message via eMail, [B]'s message is not necessarily posted as a new message back into the original forum. Occasionally, a new topic is opened with the replied message.

Here is what I tried as the technical prerequisites for [B]'s reply eMail to be fed back into the original forum. But, as I said, this does not seem to work stable for all users and their eMail clients:

(1) the eMail address registered in the forum has to be the same as the one replying the eMail
(2) the recipient eMail address has to be the one provided by the original eMail as reply address
(3) the subject line of the reply eMail can hold a "Re:" as an added prefix
(4) the rest of the subject line of the reply eMail must correspond the the original message title


questions:

-> are there other prerequisites? Maybe somehow (invisibly) coded within the eMail file?
-> would it be possible to use some other prefix (e.g. "Aw:" or "RE:" or just nothing) instead of "Re:"?


Thank you.

[Pedro]

In order to avoid create a new topic, the subjects must be the same. In the other hand, if you use prefixes on your email client you can "add" them on your site overriding the "prefixes" macro.

[nnako]

Hi Pedro,

thanks for your reply.

Pedro <Nabble> wrote

In order to avoid create a new topic, the subjects must be the same. In the other hand, if you use prefixes on your email client you can "add" them on your site overriding the "prefixes" macro.

Here is what I tried:

- varying the subject text and the prefix while keeping an eye on the reply eMail address
- in the macro, there is the following prefixes definition: "re|aw|res|fwd| [some Asian signs] ".

For me, it seems that the reply-eMail-address is the only bit of information which holds the location information for the new message. And the correctness of subject and prefix determine the localization relative to the original message.

Any reply eMail address seems to follow this specification:

ml-node+<FORUMSPEC>n<SPEC1>h<SPEC2>@n3.nabble.com

where there is the following parameter specification

<FORUMSPEC>    specification of forum application (project)
<SPEC1> and <SPEC2>    specification of sub-forum location and leading message

Conclusion after test:

(1) when the reply-eMail-address is correctly used AND the "reply"-subject corresponds to the original subject (possibly modified by the allowed prefixes), then the reply message is added below the original message within the correct sub-forum.

(2) When the reply-eMail-address is correctly used BUT the "reply"-subject or the prefixes do not correspond to the requirements, then the replied message is added into the desired sub-forum but as a new topic.

Would this be a correct description?

[nnako]

Pedro <Nabble> wrote

In order to avoid create a new topic, the subjects must be the same. In the other hand, if you use prefixes on your email client you can "add" them on your site overriding the "prefixes" macro.

Now I got the effect again:

an eMail reply is NOT appended to the respective forum thread but becomes a new thread within the right sub forum, even though the requirements (subject text, eMail account, reply address,...) are met.

Here is what I did to see the effect (it is still reproductible):

(1) create new sub forum below main forum
(2) set notification configuration to receive every post in this sub forum
(3) post a new (first) message (subject, thread) within the sub forum
(4) wait for the eMail notification
(5) issue a direct reply by the eMail client (using the eMail address preset)
(6) check the sub forum

-> the eMail reply does not show as answer within the thread (3) but as a new thread parallel to the existing one

Is there some restriction that all answers sent as a reply to my own postings are regarded as new threads and not as answers to my own posts?

[nnako]

Hi,

is there nobody to test this out and reply with some statement? Were my explanations too fuzzy? Please tell me, then. The problem is still present and valid.

[GregChapman]

I've been meaning to look art this issue as I am aware that not everything seems as described by the Nabble Team. It may take me a while. My main computer is currently being rebuilt and a change of ISP, web host and other things are around the corner.

[Pedro]

Please, give the url of this subforum, I'll make some tests there.

[nnako]

the test forum is our German translation test forum. But, I think you could reproduce the behaviour in any subforum:
http://nabble-de-test.1003690.n3.nabble.com/Teststrukturen-f12.html

The sequence is this
(1) configure yourself as a subscriber for the subforum.
(2) create a "new  topic" in that subforum. This will generate a new post at the top of the new thread.
(3) wait until you receive the confirmation eMail for the new post.
(4) reply to that confirmation eMail via an eMail
(5) you will see that your eMail does NOT append to the originial post in the forum but will create a parallel thread

this effect seems to be present only for eMail replies to the FIRST message of a new thread. Answers to subseuent messsages work well and are put next in the same thread.

[nnako]

Pedro, have you had the time to do your checks, yet? I would still be interested in your opinion and solution.