Couldn't all of this be resolved by putting the ruby talk number at the end 
of the subject rather than at the beginning.  People could then sort by 
subject and the subject would be sorted automagically by the ruby talk 
number. Those of you programing your mail readers could rather than 
eliminate the ruby talk reference, add it to the end of the subject.  Those 
of you that use outlook or other MAPI complian mail readers can write some 
code to open the mailbox and rearrange the subject and the ruby talk reference.

Ernie

At 23:08 1/29/2001 +0900, you wrote:
> >>>>> On Mon, 29 Jan 2001 22:16:53 +0900,
> >>>>> MICHAEL W WILSON <MICHAEL.W.WILSON / CUSTOMS.TREAS.GOV> (mww) writes:
>
>mww>        Subject:
>mww>        [ruby-talk:10061] Re: REQUEST TO REMOVE SEQUENCE # IN SUBJEC
>mww>        ---------------------------------
>mww>        Return Receipt
>
>gotta be a monday morning.
>
>as for the number in the subject, can be handy to refer to a
>previous post on a particular topic, saving persons time when
>searching the archives.
>
>--
>Amos

It is earlier when you think.
	--Robert Heinlein