GNU bug report logs - #72442
31.0.50; Gnus or message.el doesn't handle international message reply subject prefixes and insults users

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From: Robert Pluim <rpluim <at> gmail.com>
To: Björn Bidar <bjorn.bidar <at> thaodan.de>
Cc: 72442 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
Subject: bug#72442: 31.0.50; Gnus or message.el doesn't handle international message reply subject prefixes and insults users
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2025 19:57:52 +0100

>>>>> On Thu, 13 Feb 2025 20:04:16 +0200, Björn Bidar <bjorn.bidar <at> thaodan.de> said:

    Björn> Robert Pluim <rpluim <at> gmail.com> writes:
    >>>>>>> On Thu, 13 Feb 2025 19:21:32 +0200, Björn Bidar <bjorn.bidar <at> thaodan.de> said:
    >> 
    Björn> The message manual is still tell insulting users and/or is inaccurate now:
    >> 
    >> >> ‘message-subject-re-regexp’
    >> >> Responses to messages have subjects that start with ‘Re: ’.  This
    >> >> is _not_ an abbreviation of the English word “response”, but it
    >> >> comes from the Latin “res”, and means “in the matter of”.  Some
    >> >> illiterate nincompoops have failed to grasp this fact, and have
    >> >> “internationalized” their software to use abominations like ‘Aw: ’
    >> >> (“antwort”) or ‘Sv: ’ (“svar”) instead, which is meaningless and
    >> >> evil.  However, you may have to deal with users that use these evil
    >> >> tools, in which case you may set this variable to a regexp that
    >> >> matches these prefixes.  Myself, I just throw away non-compliant
    >> >> mail.
    >> 
    Björn> (info "(message) Message Headers")
    >> 
    >> That text is slightly different now, but Iʼm not going to bowdlerize
    >> it further.

    Björn> standards-challenged? The voicing is still passive aggressive. I think
    Björn> it should be enough to say some users might fail to understand or
    Björn> misunderstand. Even better could be to just drop the drop the offhanded
    Björn> comment. I don't think insulting or judging user who don't use English
    Björn> as their native language is a good thing.

The text concerns the *providers* of email software who changed it to
internationalize the "Re" prefix, in ignorance of the relevant
standards. It offers no judgement on the *users* of said software
based on their native language.

Robert
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