JW> The message ID's ARE generated locally by SMF (not PHPBB, but
 JW> same idea) and those message IDs are what must be preserved in
 JW> order to allow SMF to thread messages properly. Therefore, any

ahhh... you are talking about messages written on your system... i hadn't
gotten there yet... i was speaking of those coming in from other systems...

but, since we're on that topic, those SMF IDs don't need to go anywhere
outside your system... just create valid MSGID/REPLY lines and store them
in a database with their matching SMF IDs... when messages come in, you
look in the database for the MSGID that matched the inbound REPLY and pop
in the SMF ID...

better yet would be to generate and use FTN style MSGID and REPLY lines
through out the system...

 JW> message that originated here MUST come back here with the
 JW> original SMF message ID intact or it won't thread (well...none
 JW> of this is implemented yet, so actually nothing will thread
 JW> right now regardless of what it comes in with). Because these
 JW> message IDs must come back, I'm skeptical of the success of
 JW> this method. It's somewhat unrealistic of me to expect every
 JW> node through which my messages pass are going to preserve some
 JW> proprietary headers I've added for my own system.

errrmmm... they are supposed to pass everything they get without
modification... only the SEENBY and PATH lines are to be modified...

 JW> In response to your FWIW2 - you're missing the point of what
 JW> I'm doing here.

no i'm not... i fully understand it and that's why i'm /not/ doing the same
with phpBB...

 JW> I'm not interested in re-creating the wheel by
 JW> coding yet another web forum software package to handle FTN
 JW> messages.

that's not (really) what i was saying... afterall, it is only the UI that
the users see and know... what is done on the backside has no bearing on
what they see, know or even understand about the way it works...

 JW> I'm interested in taking something that your average
 JW> web user (read.."OMG..What's that BLACK SCREEN?!?!?") is used
 JW> to and comfortable with and using it to provide FTN echoes.
 JW> There are many projects out there, some more successful than
 JW> others, that are putting Fido on the web via a complete
 JW> recreation of a system as you recommend. I see no need to add
 JW> another when with a little tweaking, existing systems can be
 JW> integrated to provide the same, or nearly the same,
 JW> functionality.

hummm... i wonder why there are so many DOS BBS packages? ;)

 JW> I'm not creating an interface for current FTN users (although
 JW> they are more than welcome to use it). Those users have
 JW> already proven that they are willing and able, and maybe even
 JW> prefer, telnetting around the internet. I'm going for the
 JW> users that don't even know what Telnet is in an effort to get
 JW> more users involved in various FTNs.

its nothing at all to do with the user's visual sight of the messages...
everything i'm speaking of would never bee seen by the users unless they
were on our side of the screen ;)

 JW> WRT threading, I think I'll code to the subject matching thing
 JW> for now....I don't see a healthy future for any other method
 JW> at the moment.

> your choice... do with it what you will... ;)

)\/(ark