Prefix on subject line for mailing list

[Ryan Schmidt]

On Apr 10, 2012, at 12:18, Jerome Yanga wrote:

> Like many, I subscribe to a lot of mailing list.  When I create a rule
> in Outlook and put all the email addresses of all the mailing lists
> that I subscribe to, Outlook comes back to me and says that I have
> used up the maximum rules.  I cannot give you the exact error I get
> but it is something to that effect.  This is the reason why I started
> using the subject line to organize my emails instead of the From
> field.  Using the subject line in the rules seem to allow me to have
> just one rule for all the subscriptions that I am on.

I guess I don't understand why Outlook would allow you to create rules using the Subject header but impose a restrictions on rules using all other headers.

Even if that's the case, we're not interested in adding a mailing list subject prefix, for all the usual reasons. I was hoping I could find a pre-written explanation somewhere I could link you to, but I can't at the moment. The two reasons that spring immediately to mind are:

1) Adding a subject prefix reduces the amount of space available for useful subject information. I already filter all mailing lists into their own folders, using the headers already available to do that; I don't want each message in that folder to have a prefix on the subject line making it harder for me to see what the real subject of the message is. At the current size of my mail program's main window, I only have about 7 cm for the subject; I don't want a third of that used up with a prefix that adds no value.

2) Modifying the subject header violates email sending RFCs.