On Sat, 2009-08-01 at 16:54 -0700, Jonathan Greenberg wrote: > Ecologgers: <snip /> > > Also, Bill, I agree with the reply-to situation, but perhaps the > moderator should change the listserv settings such that the reply-to is > by default the listserv, not the sender. I always have to click > reply-all, and then go back and delete the sender's email address (I > suspect this second step is often skipped).
No, please don't consider this change! Or count me as one vote for leaving things as they are. I subscribe to the BES Aquatic Ecology list and we are always getting personal replies to posts on the list because people *expect* Reply-To to be the sender and to reply to the list they need Reply-All as is the convention on *all* other mailing lists I subscribe to. The BES list is back-to-front in this respect and causes problems. The standard behaviour would be Reply-All and *leave* the OP's address in the recipients list. If the listserv software is configured appropriately (and I have no reason to suspect it isn't is this case) and people's mailers are likewise working correctly and populating the relevant headers, it doesn't matter whether the OP replies to your response to them or the one they get from the listserv. As I note in a separate reply to this thread, many posters to this list appear to be using mailers that don't set the In-Reply-To header, which is one reason why threading keeps breaking. My tuppence worth, G > My two cents, kaching, kaching. > > --j > > P.S. I'm glad this is about the most contentious issue we have on this > listserv -- anyone out there ever use the R-help listserv (the main > R-stats listserv)? For giggles, everyone should try asking some > question like "how do I read in a CSV file" there sometime and watch the > fury a "noob" question like that evokes from their members... > > William Silvert wrote: > > Although I can understand the potential for people who only follow a > > couple of topics with threaded readers to miss some posts with > > modified subject lines, I really don't see this as a big issue. Most > > threads dominate the postings for their lifetime, but threads evolve > > too, and after a while the original subject line is no longer fully > > descriptive. As for tracing back to the original posting, if the post > > includes just the relevant part that should be sufficient. > > > > And in keeping with the evolutionary nature of threads, I would add my > > own mild complaint - replying not only to the list, but to the poster > > as well. This means that the person who posts gets two copies of every > > reply, but this can lead to confusion for everyone, since it unsyncs > > the postings. Suppose that you reply to this post with messages to > > both me and the list. I get the personal reply first, and respond to > > both you and the list. Unlss David is very diligent about the order > > that items go out, list members may receive a response before they see > > the message to which the response is sent. This happens sometimes on > > this list, but it is quite common on unmoderated lists where longer > > messages may take longer to get circulated. Since presumably the > > people who post to the list also read the list, there is no need to > > include them in the reply, just send it to the list please. > > > > Bill Silvert > > > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Wayne Tyson" <[email protected]> > > To: <[email protected]> > > Sent: Friday, July 31, 2009 9:32 PM > > Subject: [ECOLOG-L] Listserv posting and email subject line additions > > Ecolog > > > > > > Ecolog: > > > > I received the following message from a listserv subscriber who wishes > > to remain anonymous: > > > > "I know people have asked before and you have dismissed it, but I find > >> your changing of seemingly every subject line annoying and > >> presumptuous. In this case, what was gained by changing the subject > >> line? It made referencing back the original email more difficult." > > > > . . . and in later message: "PS This is a personal message and I would > > appreciate it not being > > forwarded to the whole list. > > > > Thanks," > > [Name withheld at sender's request]] > -- %~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~% Dr. Gavin Simpson [t] +44 (0)20 7679 0522 ECRC, UCL Geography, [f] +44 (0)20 7679 0565 Pearson Building, [e] gavin.simpsonATNOSPAMucl.ac.uk Gower Street, London [w] http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucfagls/ UK. WC1E 6BT. [w] http://www.freshwaters.org.uk %~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%
