It defeats the purpose: you don't know where you are within the conversation. There was a thread in these forums that inspired this.
So we can keep option 2, where the user knows exactly where he/she is within the convesation, or replace it by option 4 or 5, where:
- the user knows exactly where he/she is within the conversation
- outside a conversation (single message), the user knows exactly where he/she is within the global message list (by swiping, all those messages can be reached).
See my new slide
It would make sense to have the logic as follows:
A: Message 2/3 in conversation (position: 2/6)
B: Message 4/6 or Message in position 4/6
where "position" is the position in the messages list with all conversations collapsed.
So, it is "#2" in your latest figure (-dev1.7)
I agree, that it is hard to choose clear wording here.
In any case, - the comma in #2 of your picture should be removed (and also in #5).
And it is definitely not "rank" in English. Row, Position are fine.