Here is a service I would deeply appreciate from YahooGroups, the mailing list management platform that Yahoo provides to the world (for free!). Help me automatically ignore threads. This applies to any other email group management software as well.
One nice element is that in the top of digests in enhanced mode, there is an internal link to the posts, so I can skip down to a post I particularly want to read. (The "classic" style lists the topics in the digest, but I have to scroll manually.)
What I'd like to see is another button in digests and individual mails from Yahoo that lets me ignore all future messages in a given thread. I'm a member of some fairly busy groups, and sometimes a conversation starts that I don't particular care for. Wouldn't it be great to have YahooGroups manage my filters that are specific to that group? Just click and have no more messages in that topic sent to me. (Yes, I am aware of some of the issues with defining "thread," but just pick one and give me something.)
As it stands now, if I am subscribed to individual articles, I have to create a filter / rule to mark-as-read automatically. And in the digests, it just gives me more content to ignore and potentially miss useful content.
How does this impact my connection to the community? I argue that it makes my connection stronger, since I can more easily get to the content in which I have an interest. More accurately: I can ignore content I don't care for, which helps me feel more interested in what is being said.