On Wed, 10 Jul 2002, at 11:21pm, Bob Bell wrote:
>> If you prefer to not get any 'private' replies, you could always set your
>> reply-to to the list address...
>
> The problem here is that attempts at private replies will grab the list
> address [0].
Any message sent to the list address is not a private reply.
I suspect you really mean that people who blindly hit "Reply" will send to
the wrong address. You're right, they will. But that's not the fault of
the mail headers, it's pilot error. I've said this before and I'll say it
again: Check your headers before sending, or you will do the Wrong Thing
sooner or later.
Personally, I generally prefer not to receive private replies from a
public forum, and I definitely hate List Header Cancer. Setting "Reply-To"
suits my purposes perfectly. That is how I want you to reply to my messages
in this forum.
> The "proper" solution, IMHO, is to set the Mail-Followup-To header [1].
Two problems with that:
1. Very few MUAs currently implement Mail-Followup-To, which makes it
an ineffective solution in real life.
2. As noted above, the problem is really with people who blindly invoke
the same function in their mailer for all kinds of replies, regardless
of what they really want to do. So, people who blindly hit "Reply All"
will still do so, and people who get into the habit of blindly hitting
"Group Reply" will end up sending private replies to a group.
"There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems."
-- Ed Crowley
> [0] http://www.unicom.com/pw/reply-to-harmful.html
http://www.metasystema.org/essays/reply-to-useful.mhtml
This debate has been rehashed so many times it is starting to bore even
me. I long ago reached the conclusion that there is no consensus on the
issue, and thus the only solution that works everywhere is to check your
headers before you invoke "Send". See above.
--
Ben Scott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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