> > [13 Nov]
> > As my threads have lots of replies, I end up with a forest of ">" characters which makes it difficult to read
> > earlier quoted entries (what with word-wrapping of the browser).
> > I thought to replace the ">"s by a simple date entry prepended to the start of each reply. - much as I have 
> > given at the top of this initial entry.
> > 
> > So this is what I put in the config file:
> > 
> > ....
> > Time format = %a %d %b %y
> > Date format = %d %b
> > Prepend on reply = [$date] \n
> > ...
> > 
> > The time is used in the string for the Thread display.
> > 
> > Only I don't get the date, with the date format, prepended to replies but the time, in the time format, as
> > 
> > [Wed 13 Nov 13]
> > 
> > Now this is hardly a disaster, but any ideas why the date formatting is being ignored?
> 
> Hi David,
> yes, a $date is substituted with the "Time format" in the function build_subst_list().
> I guess that is a bug, but it could break many existing logbooks to change it.
> I leave this to Stefan.
> 
> There is a simple solution for your problem: you can execute a shell command.
> 
> Prepend on reply = $shell(date '+[%d %b]') \n
> Reply string =
> 
> That snipped will do exactly what you want :-) (of course you need to have the "-x" option to start elogd.)
> 
> Kind Regards
> Andreas

Hi Andreas,

Thanks for this, I'll give the solution a go.  
I take the point that if it's a bug, other logbooks may be affected if it were fixed; but perhaps another
parameter - $thedate or something could be created instead?