bascule> i have just noticed that when i choose 'reply...' from the
bascule> right click menu to a message the recipient is not the list but
bascule> the original sender - every time !
The list is working *as it should*. If kmail doesn't allow you to "reply to
all" as well as "reply to sender", it's what is broken, not the mailing
list. A short mail header tutorial follows.
There are several headers that typically contain email addresses: 'to:',
'from:', 'cc:', 'bcc:', and 'reply-to:'. 'bcc:' should get stripped by the
sender's mail transport agent, so it doesn't figure in anything below. If
you do the equivalent of "reply to sender", the mail user agent should
compose a message with a 'to:' field that consists of the email address in
the original 'reply-to:' field. If the original contained no 'reply-to:'
field, it should use the email address found in the 'from:' field (which
must exist - your mail transport agent will add one if you don't). If you
do the equivalent of "reply to all", the mail user agent will compose a
message with the 'to:' field set as in the "reply to sender" case and a
'cc:' field that contains the remaining email addresses ('cc:' and 'from:'
if it differs from 'reply-to:' and wasn't used to format the 'to:' field).
Example 1. If I send a message to you with these headers:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: bascule <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Skip Montanaro)
and you execute "reply to sender", you should generate a response containing
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Skip Montanaro)
If you execute "reply to all", you should generate a response containing
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Skip Montanaro)
Cc: bascule <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
(unless your mail user agent has some "not me to" setting enabled).
Example 2: If I send a message to you with these headers:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: bascule <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
and you execute "reply to sender", you should generate a response to Harry
Potter's email address at Hogwarts School of Wizards. He, of course, won't
know who the hell you are, but that's between you and him.
Many mailing list managers support "reply-to munging". If they are set to
force replies to go to the list, they replace any 'reply-to:' headers in the
message with a 'reply-to:' that points back to the list. Many people
naively think that is a good thing. Usually, these people are any or all of
* relatively new to the net
* unacquainted with their mail user agent and don't know how to invoke
the "reply to all" command or use a broken mail user agent that
doesn't have such a command
* have never accidentally sent a steamy or flame-ridden reply to a large
mailing list full of people they don't know *very well* that was
intended to go to just the sender
"Reply-to munging" is almost always the wrong setting for a mailing list.
The correct way to do things -- certainly in this case -- is the way this
list works. Leave 'reply-to:' alone and trust people to figure out how to
use the tools they have at their disposal. If you have a very small list of
people who are very tight with one another (perhaps the main characters in
"The Big Chill"), then maybe it's okay to munge 'reply-to:', but only if
everyone agrees.
--
Skip Montanaro ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
(847)971-7098
