Re: Delayed messages, postponing Date: until sending by default?

[Eric Abrahamsen <eric@ericabrahamsen.net>]

Helmut Waitzmann <nn.throttle@xoxy.net> writes:

> Eric Abrahamsen <eric@ericabrahamsen.net>:
>>Eric Abrahamsen <eric@ericabrahamsen.net> writes:
>>> Amin Bandali <mab@gnu.org> writes:
>>>> Eric Abrahamsen <eric@ericabrahamsen.net> writes:
>>>>> Eric Abrahamsen <eric@ericabrahamsen.net> writes:
>>>>>> Adam Sjøgren <asjo@koldfront.dk> writes:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Recently I read a blog post about delayed messages in Gnus: 
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>  · https://tech.toryanderson.com/2020/02/21/emacs-gnus-delay-schedule-email-sending/
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> And I could help myself nerdsplaining the configuration I use
>>>>>>> for delayed messages.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> One of the things is: 
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>   ; Remove date, so delayed messages (C-c C-j) don't get a date until
>>>>>>>   ; sent, from <mailman.1180.1266014215.14305.info-gnus-english@gnu.org>:
>>>>>>>   (setq message-draft-headers '(References From))
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Huh, I didn't realize that the Date header was set as
>>>>>> time-of-delay, not time-of-send. Confirming for myself by 
>>>>>> delaying this message by a day. No harm done, as it is totally
>>>>>> useless!
>>>>>
>>>>> Huh, no kidding. I can't think of any reason we'd want to send
>>>>> delayed messages out with the original Date header...
>>>>
>>>> +1; I think it would be a more sensible default to use the Date of
>>>> send. I think it can be especially confusing for the receiver
>>>> seeing a message dated, say, 1 day before, but only just appearing
>>>> in their inbox.
>>>
>>> And even with regular (non-delayed) drafts, why would we want to
>>> date it from when we *started* writing the message, rather than
>>> when we sent it?
>>>
>>> I've opened bug#40151 for this.
>>
>>And it's in!
>
> Is it possible for the user to select the other behavior: send a
> message with the date when the message was finished writing?  If 
> not, I'd beg not to change that. 
>
> On the other hand:  If I want to send a message with the date of
> sending rather than writing, I just save it as a draft.  Then, 
> before sending, I reedit the message to get the current date. 
>
> Adhering to the general principle: provide mechanism not policy – I'd
> like to select the policy for myself. 

All that changed here is the default value of `message-draft-headers',
to match the behavior I think most users would expect if they weren't
aware they had any control over it. Personally, I had never even noticed
that Gnus was sending drafts dated from when I *started* writing the
message, not when I sent it.

Anyway, you can still choose the behavior you want, by adding or
removing the symbol `Date' in the value of `message-draft-headers', same
as before. Only the default has changed.

Eric