> > http://www.unicom.com/pw/reply-to-harmful.html
>
> This does not makes sense **at all**. List are suposed to be public bulletin
> boards, not private chat rooms!
There is one point which is correct is the above web page, it's:
> FROM http://www.unicom.com/pw/reply-to-harmful.html:
> Can't Find My Way Back Home
>
> It may be impossible to reply to the author of a message once the Reply-To
> header is munged. The Reply-To header was not invented on a whim. It is there
> for the sender of a mail message to use. If you stomp on
> this header, you can lose important information.
>
> There are good reasons why the sender might insert a Reply-To header. The
> sender might not be the original author of the message (the name that appears
> in the From header). If responses should return to the
> sender and not the original author, then the sender will insert a Reply-To
> header. Or, maybe the sender added a Reply-To because he or she cannot receive
> email at the account from which the message was sent.
> There are many good reasons to place a Reply-To header into a mailing list
> message.
>
> If the Reply-To is munged by the mailing list, the value provided by the
> original sender is lost. Reply-To munging can make it impossible to reach the
> sender of a message.
Note that there is no answer to this precise point in
http://www.metasystema.org/essays/reply-to-useful.mhtml
But the main point is that mailing-lists are poorly handled by the "low-level"
mail headers, and specific headers should be used. I have to change my From:
header to write to some mailing lists because they only accept this From:
for the posting. I also change my From: for normal messages because people
don't use the Reply-To for addressbooks usually but the From. Therefore,
people get [EMAIL PROTECTED] which is explicitely referencing a specific
computer, whereas I'd like to have [EMAIL PROTECTED], which I can redirect to
any specific computer.
Basically, I'm on my computer (lpnp69), and my official email is
[EMAIL PROTECTED] I'd expect my configuration to be:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Tomorrow, for some obscure reason (let's say I'm changing lab), my computer
becomes cdfas1, and I have no more account on lpnp69. Then two problems
arise:
- I cannot send mails to the mailing list, I have to resubscribe
- people browsing the archives and wanting to send me a mail (I do that quite
often, browsing an archive, saw that somebody had the same problem, and mail
him to know if he has found something if the answer is not on the list) cannot
do it, as my official email [EMAIL PROTECTED] has been mungled
It should be the work of mailers to provide functions to handle mailing-lists.
Of course, as only a few do, Reply-To mungling is after all a good idea. But
in a perfect world, it shouldn't (perfect world=world where every body would
use good mailers, such has mutt which have specific code to handle mailing
lists).
End of the rant for today...
--
Xavier
