Hi, Mike,

I got your message via the subscription (Subscribers to Email subject and
comment names <email-subject-and-comment-names-81@deme.stanford.edu>) and
hit reply all. The To: line is Mike Mintz <mintz@stanford.edu>;, which I
think is expired so it will bounce, and the Cc: is the above subscribers'
address. See below.

On Mon, 6 Jun 2011, Mike Mintz wrote:

> [Mike Mintz][1] commented on [Deme Email integration plan][2]
>
> [Click here to view this comment in context][3]

The link to comment in context is working, it seems, but the viewer does
not show comment in context - have to click on Show located comments.

> * * *
>
> Here is my interpretation of how to treat email subject and comment name,
> please confirm or correct me.
>
> 1. When Deme sends outgoing emails (to distribute comments that have been
> posted either by email or web), the subject line is the name of the top
> comment in the thread (with an optional prefix).

Yes.

> 2. When someone posts a comment via web, Deme uses their comment name whether
> it is a reply or top comment to store in the database and display on the web.
> However, the only time this is seen in email is for the top comment of a
> thread.

No, the new comment name should appear at the beginning of the body of the
email message if it differs from the subject line (top comment name).

> 3. When someone posts via email, we determine whether it is a top comment (a)
> or a reply (b) based on the recipient address we receive it at.
>
> (a) If Deme receives a top comment via email, the subject line becomes the
> comment name. We should not have to strip out any prefix-in-square-brackets or
> Re/Fwd because presumably this was a new email the sender initiated on his
> own.

Yes.

> (b) If Deme receives a reply comment via email, the subject line is ignored.
> The comment name is "Re: [parent comment name]". Two possible variations:
> first, we could use the top comment name instead of the parent comment name
> (since these could vary when people post on the web); and second, we could
> omit the Re: prefix if there already is one.

I would implement both of your variations, keeping the same top comment
name throughout the thread, with just one Re: for all the follow-on
comments. Subject lines send in replies sent by email should become the
comment names of the comments as posted in the web thread, however, and
should be placed at the beginning of the body of email notifications to
subscribers.

> [1]: http://deme.stanford.edu/viewing/person/7
> [2]: http://deme.stanford.edu/viewing/htmldocument/60
> [3]:
> http://deme.stanford.edu/viewing/htmldocument/60?highlighted_comment=81
>
>