Hey, Bubba

There is no formal protocol or written-down rules regarding this matter, just the increasingly uncommon "common sense". As you know, a thread is when people reply to each other, carrying on a conversation. Often enough, a topic drift occurs, but it is still that same conversation. Changing the subject header alerts people to the change of topic without leaving the thread. Starting a new thread engendered by the old one usually ends the old conversation as far as the person involved is concerned. Whether this is a good thing or not depends on the thread and the person. The advantage *and* disadvantage of just changing the subject header but remaining in the thread is that people's filters in their threaded newsreaders won't need to be adjusted - the thread will remain highlighted or killfiled, as the case may be - the change of the subject header alters nothing in this regard. If, however, the thread in question is, for example, one of those interminable off-topic ones, a change to an on-topic subject will remain unnoticed by the numerous people who killfiled the thread. In such cases, it is clearly better to start a new one.

Any new thread usually doesn't need a "was" in the subject header. An old thread does, and the header should be formatted as follows: "French Fried Poodles (was: Cat Stroganoff all'Alfredo)". The exact format is important, because some good newsreaders recognise it and delete the no-longer-needed bracketed "was" part starting with the second reply.

Bubba