|
Plain text behaving oddly
Hi Has anyone seen a complaint that Groups.io is sending fancy formatting in signatures? One group member says that he posts in plain text but when he sees his posts in his email, it is not plain text.? His email to the group: - my italics. "Groups.io sure has some funny ideas about formatting¡¡¡. My original message was in plain text." The word "formatting" was in a large bolded font. His signature was large and red! Our group is set not to force plain text to HTML. This member is a sophisticated user of technology. Anyone else seeing a problem? Frances |
|
Re: Moving an entire thread from main group to subgroup or vice versa
Brian,
No, but it has been discussed on beta@ /g/beta/message/10820 Hasn't made it to the Trello wishlist as far as I can see. Shal (Second hit in a Search for "move message subgroup") |
|
Re: Why use hashtags in a group?
#hashtags
J,
Shal, didn't the use come about via hash functions, used to speedI don't think Wikipedia mentioned that, nor have I heard that explanation. I was amused that Wikipedia cited PDP-11 assembly language for use of # as the Immediate specifier on instruction operands. They cited it as an example of using number sign as a marker to alter the meaning of what follows, they didn't relate it specifically to the social media usage. ... I remember hash functions and just assumed that when hashtagsBoth are used to index information, so I can sort of see that. But I think the word "hash" had been associated with the number sign independently, and became a convenient name for the usage. It rolls off the tongue more readily than #number-sign-tag, or #octothorptag. Maybe #poundtag would have worked (too overloaded with meaning?). Shal |
|
Re: Why use hashtags in a group?
#hashtags
J,
Shal, I don't remember about the button shape.Plenty of examples in beta@, or this thread in GMF. Rectangles with slightly rounded corners. The text is white on tag-color background. I think ... it took whatever was after the pound sign in the titleThat's what I'm seeing too. Moving one word out to the end does mangle the Subject a bit, how unreadable it becomes would depend on the specific Subject line. Shal |
|
Re: Why use hashtags in a group?
#hashtags
Jim,
I'm 72...hashtags have not been a part of my life...and yet IThis use for the number sign is a creature of social media. Wikipedia cites Twitter as the place where this usage first flourished. In Groups.io hashtags are only detected in the message Subject, not the message body. I think that's a reasonable accommodation to the different nature of an email message versus a "tweet" or other social media message. Shal |
|
Re: Why use hashtags in a group?
#hashtags
J,
I don't think that works. Groups.io will still create a hashtag outOh, right. As seen in Full Featured Digests and the Messages section the hashtag will be pulled out to the end and made into a button shape. I forgot about that. In individual email it just passes through unmangled. My email-centrism trips me up again. Shal |
|
Re: Why use hashtags in a group?
#hashtags
Just wanted to say that as this hashtag thread rambles on I am learning a lot.? I'm 72...hashtags have not been a part of my life...and yet I see them around. I guess that they are here to stay. Thanks for the lessons. -Jim Coffee- one of the Print Exchanges group's Moderators To post a message email to?[email protected] On 17 April 2017 at 07:39, J_Catlady <j.olivia.catlady@...> wrote: On Mon, Apr 17, 2017 at 02:00 am, Shal Farley wrote:if you're not planning to use them for anything particular then it doesn't much matter that the members may incidentally create useless ones while using the number sign for a different purpose. |
|
Re: Why use hashtags in a group?
#hashtags
Dano,
Because of the group history and demographic, I am concerned thatI think you may be right, asking those members to add well-chosen hashtags to their message Subjects would likely slow down their participation. I know when posting in my PTA group it takes me some extra effort to review the Hashtag page and make sure I've added the "right" hashtags for a given message. Ditto starting a topic in beta@, when I remember to do so. Whether that extra effort would prove worthwhile to your group members is likely something that varies widely among groups. In this case, simple is better.Fortunately, if some self-motivated members choose to use hashtags in their message subjects, that by itself doesn't really affect other members much - unless those other members get the impression that they must or ought to be doing likewise. Which is apparently the problem J had. As moderator you'd have to set an appropriate (to your group) tone when answering any questions that come up about hashtag usage. In a friendly, conversational group a casual "use them if you like them, otherwise forget about it" attitude may help avoid giving members any anxiety about them. And, I would add, we've seen a significant increase in traffic sinceCongratulations! Shal |
|
Re: Why use hashtags in a group?
#hashtags
Dano,
I have selected "Only Moderators Can Create Hashtags".That is a concern of mine as well. Our friend the octothorp has many other names and uses. Which is one reason to take a laissaiz faire approach to the hashtags - if you're not planning to use them for anything particular then it doesn't much matter that the members may incidentally create useless ones while using the number sign for a different purpose. It appears that technology is eliminating a written character that weSadly, that's usually the case where a marker is needed to alter the meaning of what follows. Fortunately this marker is "mostly harmless" in the sense that most non-hashtag uses will not affect the way the message posts. It would be a (hopefully) rare case that a member accidentally combines the number sign with a word that a moderator has designated as a hashtag with special features. I'm trying to avoid suggesting that there be a new group setting which turns off hashtag processing altogether. That would be another way to allow the number sign to appear freely in message subjects. But it is a way that cuts off the possibility of mixed usage (which a human can distinguish by context). An alternate approach is to have a modifying choice to the "Only Moderators Can Create Hashtags" setting: whether the attempt causes the message to be rejected (the default, as it is now), moderated, or accepted. And in either of the latter two cases no entry is created in the hashtag list for the member's incidental use of the number sign. That again leaves it to humans to understand by context (or explanation) why that usage did not create a hashtag. Shal |
|
Re: Why use hashtags in a group?
#hashtags
Shal Farley wrote:
. . . . . . . . . . However, since I've opined that hashtags may not be useful in all groups, I'll ask about the con side of the question. What motivates you to prevent the occurrence of hashtags in your group's message Subjects? Or is that even what you're trying to do? ___________________________ I have a group that has operated fairly well for almost 19 years. The members are typically older and the focus is historically based. The reality is, a lot of members may fade away with time and our membership may not be sustained at the level it is now. I have received a lot of positive feedback from group members since the transfer indicating they like the cleaner, more understandable layout. Limiting the group to plain text was a conscious decision knowing that some members don't see as well as they used to, so plain text allowed their systems to use their own preferred settings. Because of the group history and demographic, I am concerned that hashtags would just add a level of complexity and confusion that would simply serve to slow down participation. These guys can generally use search and that seems to solve most of the need. One big change we did make was to allow attachments, and we're still struggling with that change. A significant portion of my users are what one might call 'not technically sophisticated'. I had one member send an attachment of two images with a total size of 17 Mb, because he had no concept of file size. Needless to say, I'm working at educating a certain portion of the group on technical issues. In this case, simple is better. And, I would add, we've seen a significant increase in traffic since the transfer to groups,io. Dano |
Frances
Shal Farley
Duane
Jim Coffee
D R Stinson