Hi,
Is there a way to get the message base to sort messages that come into an area in date format?
When reading I see messages that are not always in date order.
i suspect this is because of delays in messages getting distributed via qwk or ftn.
Would this be a message reader function onr an index procedure inside the database?

Thanks,
Tom
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Re: Message Base Question
By: Tom Moore to All on Sat Jan 17 2026 05:40 pm

Hi,
Is there a way to get the message base to sort messages that come into an area in date format?
When reading I see messages that are not always in date order.
i suspect this is because of delays in messages getting distributed via qwk or ftn.
Would this be a message reader function onr an index procedure inside the database?

That'd be a message reader function, but likely pretty frustrating for users. The date/time stamps on messages aren't very accurate (especially considering different timezones). I don't think the results would be good.
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Re: Message Base Question
By: Digital Man to Tom Moore on Sat Jan 17 2026 19:28:34

The date/time stamps on messages aren't very accurate (especially considering different timezones).

Funny this comes up. I have my msg. pointers set to see msgs. for just the last six months. I was reading a bunch of msgs. yesterday and amongst the 2026 msgs. came several 2020 msgs, then back to the present. Weird.

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Re: Message Base Question
By: Mortar to Digital Man on Sun Jan 18 2026 03:52 pm

Re: Message Base Question
By: Digital Man to Tom Moore on Sat Jan 17 2026 19:28:34

The date/time stamps on messages aren't very accurate (especially considering different timezones).

Funny this comes up. I have my msg. pointers set to see msgs. for just the last six months. I was reading a bunch of msgs. yesterday and amongst the 2026 msgs. came several 2020 msgs, then back to the present. Weird.

Message pointers determine what message you'll see in a new-scan based on their *import* date/time, not the date/time they were supposedly written (which is the date/time shown in the message header to users). So, not weird really. Someone just dumped some old messages into a network, it happens a lot.
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Re: Message Base Question
By: Digital Man to Mortar on Sun Jan 18 2026 17:07:44

Message pointers determine what message you'll see in a new-scan based on their *import* date/time, not the date/time they were supposedly written (which is the date/time shown in the message header to users). So, not weird really. Someone just dumped some old messages into a network, it happens a lot.

Well, since the user can't see the import date (or can they?), makes more sense (IMO) to have the pointers use the date written date, which is more meaningful to the user.

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Re: Message Base Question
By: Mortar to Digital Man on Sun Jan 18 2026 03:52 pm

considering different timezones).

Funny this comes up. I have my msg. pointers set to see msgs. for
just the last six months. I was reading a bunch of msgs. yesterday
and amongst the 2026 msgs. came several 2020 msgs, then back to the
present. Weird.

talk to the sysop.
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Re: Good Pointers
By: Mortar to Digital Man on Sun Jan 18 2026 07:21 pm

Re: Message Base Question
By: Digital Man to Mortar on Sun Jan 18 2026 17:07:44

Message pointers determine what message you'll see in a new-scan based on their *import* date/time, not the date/time they were supposedly written (which is the date/time shown in the message header to users). So, not weird really. Someone just dumped some old messages into a network, it happens a lot.

Well, since the user can't see the import date (or can they?), makes more sense (IMO) to have the pointers use the date written date, which is more meaningful to the user.

Except that messages are imported or sorted by "written date".
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Re: Message Base Question
By: Digital Man to Mortar on Sun Jan 18 2026 17:07:44

Message pointers determine what message you'll see in a new-scan based

on

their *import* date/time, not the date/time they were supposedly

written

(which is the date/time shown in the message header to users). So, not

weird

really. Someone just dumped some old messages into a network, it

happens a

lot.

Well, since the user can't see the import date (or can they?), makes more sense (IMO) to have the pointers use the date written date, which is more meaningful to the user.

I don't know how that would work, every message area would constantly have to be reindexed if that were the case...

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Re: Good Pointers
By: Mortar to Digital Man on Sun Jan 18 2026 07:21 pm

Well, since the user can't see the import date (or can they?),
makes more sense (IMO) to have the pointers use the date written
date, which is more meaningful to the user.

if you're having these kinds of problems you should really talk to
the sysop of the bbs. you shouldn't be experiencing any severe msg lags
like you mentioned.
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Except that messages are imported or sorted by "written date".

FWIW, sbbsecho seems to do a lot better job keeping messages in such an
order where, when read in the order posted, a discussion can be followed vs. some other tossers/tosser-shims I have used in the past.

I rarely notice ftn messages read in sequence seeming out of order here.
Usenet groups are about the only place I might notice it, and I suspect
that is something that happens before sbbsecho gets hold of the messages.


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Re: Good Pointers
By: Dumas Walker to DIGITAL MAN on Mon Jan 19 2026 10:16 am

Except that messages are imported or sorted by "written date".

Of course I meant to write "messages are *not* imported or sorted by written date"

FWIW, sbbsecho seems to do a lot better job keeping messages in such an order where, when read in the order posted, a discussion can be followed vs. some other tossers/tosser-shims I have used in the past.

I'm not sure why that would be. Maybe other tossers don't unpack bundes in the day-of-week order? I seem to recall that much older versions of SBBSecho didn't .

I rarely notice ftn messages read in sequence seeming out of order here. Usenet groups are about the only place I might notice it, and I suspect
that is something that happens before sbbsecho gets hold of the messages.

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Re: Good Pointers
By: Digital Man to Dumas Walker on Mon Jan 19 2026 01:45 pm

FWIW, sbbsecho seems to do a lot better job keeping messages in such an order where, when read in the order posted, a discussion can be followed vs. some other tossers/tosser-shims I have used in the past.

I'm not sure why that would be. Maybe other tossers don't unpack bundes in the day-of-week order? I seem to recall that much older versions of SBBSecho didn't .

Continuing ... (hit Ctrl-Z prematurely), looking now at SBBSecho, I see that it always start unpacking bundles from Sunday, then Monday, etc. It make more sense to start unpacking bundles starting with the *next* day of week to always unpack them in order. This matters most when there's multiple bundles from multiple days received all at once, which isn't a common occurrence, but possible.
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