On Wed, 2010-07-14 at 13:36 +0100, Pete Biggs wrote: > > > > > > [ ] Reply button invokes mailing list reply > > > > This doesn't make a lot of sense to me. The user can *already* express a > > preference, by moving their hand an inch or two to the left or right and > > hitting a different (key|menu item|button). > > But there isn't a "Reply to List" button - so instead of hitting the > reply button, you have to press ctrl-L or Message -> Reply to list. And > no, I do not consider "Reply to All" to be suitable substitute for > "Reply to List".
Providing a 'Reply to List' button so that you don't have to use the keyboard is a perfectly sane feature request. But I would consider it to be a separate request. > > This strikes me being a "DWIM" feature so that the user only has to bash > > their head on the keyboard to get what they want.... as long as they've > > preconfigured it. > > > > In general, those who are sophisticated enough to preconfigure anything > > are perfectly capable of hitting the right buttons in the first place. > > There doesn't seem to be a lot of point in such a context-dependent > > action, for someone who knows what they're doing. > > I disagree. I have to consciously think "I'm dealing with a mailing list > post, so I don't want to click reply, I need to take my hand of the > mouse before I start typing the reply and then do Ctrl-L, then put my > hand back on the mouse to EDIT the message before starting to type." If > I happen to be typing a quick reply to something on a list there is a > distinct (and high) possibility that I will automatically click Reply. You want a Reply to List button. Alternatively, I already posted a patch which allows you to configure the existing 'Reply to All' button so that where possible it acts as 'Reply to List' instead -- falling back to 'Reply to All'. I'm still slightly dubious about that -- I think the actions should each do what they say they'll do. But at least it's still a *public* action, when you press the *public* reply button. > > Which brings us to... > > > > > Then we can debate an appropriate default for the preference. > > > > If we're exposing it in the UI *instead* of the existing 'Reply' action, > > then it really *has* to be private by default. The existing UI action > > sends private mail, and we can't sensibly change that. Least > > catastrophic failure mode and all that. So again it would only benefit > > those who are paying sufficient attention to configure it in the first > > place, which makes it rather pointless. > > Virtually all of the direct replies I get from posts on this list (and > others) are from novice users - they do not realise they sent it > directly to me, they thought they were sending to the list. And if I push the nag popup I've already implemented and tested in git.infradead.org/users/dwmw2/evolution.git, those users will get a pop-up warning saying "You are replying in private to a list which came from a mailing list.". They'll have to *explicitly* choose "reply privately" or "reply to all" to continue. > All of the direct replies from experienced users are usually followed > within a few minutes by another email saying something like "Sorry, I > replied directly to you in my haste, that should have gone to the > list". Experienced users do make mistakes, and may well have disabled the nag pop-up which saves the novice users. But still this is a *much* better failure mode than accidentally sending stuff to the list which should have been public. Users will *always* get things wrong; even experienced users. The question is what failure mode do we want to encourage -- do we want to err on the side of sending private information out to the mailing list, which cannot be retracted and can lead to *very* bad things, or do we want to err on the side of sending responses to too few people, which is easily remedied? I think that any "DWIM" option which automatically chooses between *public* and *private* on behalf of the user is asking for trouble. But it's perfectly reasonable for you to want a "Public DWIM" option, which chooses only between reply-to-list and reply-to-all for you (and means you don't have to use the keyboard for that). That's what I did in http://bugzilla-attachments.gnome.org/attachment.cgi?id=165799 -- dwmw2 _______________________________________________ evolution-list mailing list evolution-list@gnome.org To change your list options or unsubscribe, visit ... http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/evolution-list
