iCab Yahoo! Group

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/icab/

The iCab Yahoo! Group is mainly an English-language discussion forum. It has a moderate volume of messages with a mean count of about 200 per month. Messages are usually delivered by email to all group members, but members may also configure their accounts to recieve a once-per-day message digest -- or even no emails at all if they prefer to use the web interface (forum). A searchable message archive and a small file sharing space is also available. To become a member of this group, you need a free Yahoo! account.

Alternatively, the mailing list can also be subscribed independently (individual messages only). This is useful if you do not wish to get a Yahoo! account, but would still like to join the discussions.

• Subscribe: icab-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
• Post to the list: icab@yahoogroups.com
• Unsubscribe: icab-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

The Yahoo! Subject Header Bug

The iCab Yahoo! Group modifies the subject of all messages by inserting the string [iCab] at the beginning of the subject if that string is not yet somewhere (anywhere) in the subject. The email specification does not allow this behaviour. A reply must start with the string Re: . It is very problematic because in some email programs a reply that doesn't start with Re: is presented as the first message of a new thread. it effectively makes the following of threads so difficult as to be almost impossible. The behaviour could easily be corrected by means of a simple group configuration change, but the group owner, Tony L. Svanström, stated that he is neither willing to remedy this problem nor to explain why.

With most email programs this issue is not a problem. They automatically create a correct subject when you hit the Reply button. Only some email programs misbehave, which means that you'll have to manually repair the subject before sending your message.

Fortunately, there is an easy (though laborious) workaround: Ensure that the subject header starts with the string Re: [iCab] always when you reply to a message. This works because [1] it adheres to the email specification and [2] if the string [iCab] is already in the subject, Yahoo!'s list server will not change the subject. This applies to replying from Yahoo!'s web interface as well as direct email messages.

If you do not apply this workaround, some members might not receive your messages. If that matters to you, you might find that you need to fix your email software to comply with the group software's misbehaviour.

All this applies to replies only. If you mean to create a new thread (by posting a new message unrelated to anything else or by changing the text of the subject header) you should take care to remove all traces of both Re: and [iCab] from the subject header.

More information about this issue is available in message 9831 in the archive.

-- ArneJohannessen