This message is from the T13 list server.
Warning: This has *NOTHING* to do with ATA/ATAPI (but its fun anyway)... On Thu, 16 Jan 2003 09:43:57 -0800, Eric Gisin wrote: >This message is from the T13 list server. >That means a mail client will reply just to you. Sender should be changed to >Reply-To so that replies go to the list, that is how other lists work. I agree... Sender: is *NEVER* used to determine the actual From: or Reply-To: address. RFC822 is very clear about this. Sender: is expected to be the name of a mail handling agent - that could be a person (different from the email address of the person that composed the message) - it is normally the name of some email server machine (not a person, not even a valid email address). There is also a header field in most email called Return-Path: but it is frequently not a real email address. But there are two parts to this... The first part has to do with what kind of email list we have and the second part is about poorly designed email client software. First, the list type: Generally email lists fall into two types - broadcast or discussion list. A broadcast list has the primary use to send info one way - from one source to many readers with no followup email expected. A discussion list has the primary use of supporting a discussion amoung many people. A broadcast list should have From: set to the originator of the message. If Reply-To: is present it should be the same as From:. A discussion list should have From: set to the originator of the message and the Reply-To: set to the email address to post messages to the list. The T13 list is certainly a discussion list but it seems to not have a Reply-To: header line. The Reply-To: seems to have been removed sometime in 2002. But now we get to the hard part of this: So much email client software is designed incorrectly, configured incorrectly or used incorrectly. This makes any discussion of how a list should have From: and Reply-To: set a worthless discussion. It should be noted that a correctly operating email client *NEVER* uses the Sender: header line and it *NEVER* uses the Return-Path: header line. When replying to a message it *ALWAYS*, unless explictly overriden by user action, uses the Reply-To:, if Reply-To: is present, for a "reply message" else it uses the From: address. A properly implemented email program will have options to display and/or select the From: and Reply-To: at addresses at appropriate times. BTW: The T13 list is set up OK. It probably should have a Reply-To: header set to the list's email address. It used to have that. But I would bet it was removed because there are so many incorrect inplemented/configured/operated email client programs out there in the corporate world. Hale *** Hale Landis *** www.ata-atapi.com ***
