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Re: "Don't mess with that which you don't understand" ...

From Paul <nospam@needed.invalid>
Newsgroups alt.comp.software.thunderbird
Subject Re: "Don't mess with that which you don't understand" ...
Date 2026-07-31 10:59 -0400
Organization A noiseless patient Spider
Message-ID <114id88$2qqee$1@dont-email.me> (permalink)
References <114g5me$21p2m$1@dont-email.me> <114gl4b$27abm$1@dont-email.me> <114h17d$2ar5p$1@dont-email.me> <114hl8s$2hafa$1@dont-email.me> <kf7ujm-5bi.ln1@spock.lan>

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On Fri, 7/31/2026 5:45 AM, dillinger wrote:
> Op 31-07-2026 om 10:10 schreef J. P. Gilliver:
>> My rant was prompted by at least two posts here by one who did indeed
>> say more or less the subject, to someone asking what seemed to me an
>> innocent question.
> 
> Basically Keith asked if was alright to erase his email, and if he could
> still access it after he did that, not a very innocent question.
> I'm sorry if you felt offended but I'd rather save someone's mail by
> offending them a bit then the other way around.
> 

I was unaware of the types he was addressing, never seen them
here, but they appear to be "derived types", and made for
the worst of reasons (supporting features that might not work
as they require the OS side of things to work properly and that's
a long distance to go for a pail of water).

I believe GLODA is also supposed to solve those sorts of
problems (integrated search solution), and that's a more self contained
solution that does not leave "that kind of garbage behind".
GLODA makes some kind of inverted Index, which supports email search
later. Since it's self contained, when you find the email
you want, there isn't a fuss trying to get the email open.

For things that are derived, you can erase them. But
as you point out, you have to be pretty sure of the
details of these folders, to make deletion decisions.
It's better to turn off the feature, if there is
slim to none chance of you ever figuring out how
to make the OS side work properly (Federated Search).

Since the design of this program, requires of the user
that they become "somewhat familiar" with the contents
of the profile, that's an inevitable part of usage.
And if more file extensions start appearing, well,
in for a penny, in for a pound, you'll have to learn
whether those are "primary" items, or "derived" items
and safe for deletion. I don't have a problem deleting
things I find in "cache2" on FF or TB, but doing that
sort of cleaning is pointless, as ten minutes later
there are files in there. For that one, it's better
to flip the tool to "RAM caching mode" instead, just
because of the improved hygiene.

Back in Outlook or Outlook Express days, you had
files like .pst and .ost, and like keeping a pet,
you had to learn about the care and feeding of those.
And there were innumerable $39.95 programs for "fixing"
the files. It's not like operating email in the past
was somehow completely free of Profile maintenance.
But the number of things you need to know now, has
definitely gone up. It's like the maintenance
manual for the 747 now.

   Paul

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Thread

"Don't mess with that which you don't understand" ... "J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> - 2026-07-30 19:38 +0100
  Re: "Don't mess with that which you don't understand" ... T <T@invalid.invalid> - 2026-07-30 16:01 -0700
    Re: "Don't mess with that which you don't understand" ... The Real Bev <bashley101@gmail.com> - 2026-07-30 19:27 -0700
      Re: "Don't mess with that which you don't understand" ... "J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> - 2026-07-31 09:10 +0100
        Re: "Don't mess with that which you don't understand" ... dillinger <dillinger@not.invalid> - 2026-07-31 11:45 +0200
          Re: "Don't mess with that which you don't understand" ... MikeS <MikeS@fred.com> - 2026-07-31 11:56 +0100
            Re: "Don't mess with that which you don't understand" ... T <T@invalid.invalid> - 2026-07-31 11:53 -0700
            Re: "Don't mess with that which you don't understand" ... Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2026-07-31 15:29 -0400
              Re: "Don't mess with that which you don't understand" ... T <T@invalid.invalid> - 2026-08-02 02:05 -0700
          Re: "Don't mess with that which you don't understand" ... Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2026-07-31 10:59 -0400
      Re: "Don't mess with that which you don't understand" ... Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2026-07-31 14:48 -0400
        Re: "Don't mess with that which you don't understand" ... The Real Bev <bashley101@gmail.com> - 2026-08-01 07:19 -0700
          Re: "Don't mess with that which you don't understand" ... Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2026-08-01 14:16 -0400
            Re: "Don't mess with that which you don't understand" ... The Real Bev <bashley101@gmail.com> - 2026-08-01 18:38 -0700
    Re: "Don't mess with that which you don't understand" ... "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2026-07-31 15:03 +0200
      Re: "Don't mess with that which you don't understand" ... T <T@invalid.invalid> - 2026-07-31 12:37 -0700
  Re: "Don't mess with that which you don't understand" ... T <T@invalid.invalid> - 2026-07-30 16:20 -0700
  Re: "Don't mess with that which you don't understand" ... Retirednoguilt <HapilyRetired@fakeaddress.invalid> - 2026-07-31 10:48 -0400
    Re: "Don't mess with that which you don't understand" ... "J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> - 2026-07-31 21:45 +0100

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