<axe buried> Thanks David. ----- Original Message ----- From: "david raistrick" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, January 11, 2002 3:41 AM Subject: Re: [gb-users] List Suggestion
> On Thu, 10 Jan 2002, david raistrick wrote: > > > On Thu, 10 Jan 2002, Vaughn Thurman - Swift Systems Inc wrote: > > > > > I would like to see the list options set to "reply to list" so that we > > > > Thanks for the suggestion, but I'm going to decline. > > To follow up on my previous post.. > > Vaughn, let me appologize for the possibly rude light my email may have > been cast in. It was pointed out to me that the URL from which I quoted > could have been interpreted as being, perhaps, insulting. This was not my > intention, nor did I interpret the information located at that URL in > that fashion - I would not have included it if I had. > > > In a nutshell, having the mailing list software set the Reply-To: header > causes problems. > > First and formost, by doing so it prevents a user from setting their own > Reply-To, such as Vaughn himself does. Instead the header would be > replaced with our own, possibly preventing the user from receiving a > direct reply where he expects it. > > Second, it helps to keep traffic to the list on topic - It forces a user > to /choose/ to send mail back to the list. This helps to prevent flames > and personal emails from being distributed to 500+ people who are not > interested in them. > > Changing this header will also prevent some mailers from being able to > even view (without looking at the original message header) the original > senders address, completely preventing the easy possibility of replying > directly to the user. Yes, this is actually a problem with the MUA..but > it is such an extremely common problem that I'm sure each have you have > already seen it in action. This only adds to the above mentioned > problem...if a user wishes to reply they have no /choice/ (as far as they > can see) but to reply to the list address. > > Further...some misconfigured auto-responders send their responses to the > Reply-To address and not the envelope sender. I'm sure you've seen the > case where you post a message to a list...and get a half dozen auto > replies back from various subscribers. Instead, those responses would go > to the list itself, where 500+ people would have to delete them. Some of > these responders dont keep a database of addresses they have recently > responded to - they respond to each message they receive. This creates a > loop between the mailing list and the autoresponder...and can get messy, > fast. > > In fact, the case is similar with some (albeit less often) MTAs...whem > misconfigured, they will send a bounce message, not to the envelope > sender, but to the Reply-To address. Again this has the possibility of > creating a loop similar to the above, not to mention that we'd all have to > delete that bounce, over and over and over...(the automated bounce > processing system that our mailing list manager uses cant process a bounce > it never receives...) > > > > My suggestions, to you the users, would be to: > > Read the fine manual for your chosen MUA. Find out how to utilize its > built-in "reply to all" feature. Be sure to trim off, when you think > about it, the unneeded addresses in the CC field. There is, still, no > standard way to do what we all want...this would require a third Reply > feature in our MUAs. > > Users who would like can set any Reply-To they wish. It will be passed > along untouched. > > > Good luck...and I'm sorry that there is no simple way to reply directly to > the list, instead of to the list and the sender. Feel free to recommend > to whomever wrote your MUA that they support the Mail-Followup-To header, > with a third reply option. (though some MUAs do already support this.) > > ...david > > --- > David Raistrick > Systems Administrator - Global Technology Associates, Inc > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To subscribe to the digest version first unsubscribe, then > e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >
