Thanks for the reply...

At 02:18 PM 02/25/2001 you tapped out:
>On Sun, 25 Feb 2001 10:08:42 -0500, Ed Paynter <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>>I thought you might appreciate another  justification for making the
>posting number available.
>
>The problem with this is that the 'Posting' number changes whenever the
>archives
>are edited and then re-indexed.  It is not a fixed value.  I know that some
>people do not edit archives and thus their numbers may not change, but many
>people do edit archives and this would make an incredible problem.  We have to
>account for both kinds of usage.

I understand that. That's why I suggested that its display on postings be configurable by the list owner. They could show it if it might be useful, maybe with a warning that the number could change if a message were removed from the archive. But for those of us who don't edit archives, it would be quite useful. Also, as I noted, for those who would make use of the number, instead of possibly deleting some postings, they could just replace their content with some bland place holding message to preserve the numbers of all the other postings.

>To post a link to a previous message, the easiest thing to do is (after the
>message is posted) simply do a search for it and once found, copy the complete
>URL of that message and use it in your subsequent post or place it on your
>index link page or whatever.

That's exactly what I'm doing now. It would be easier if one didn't have to go looking through the archives for each one, that's all.

Ed