On Sat 2000-10-07 (16:15), Russell Nelson wrote:
> > I'll bite. What am I missing as to how the MUA knows which people are
> > on the list, and which people aren't on the list, out of the people in
> > the To and Cc lines?
>
> Why would there ever be anybody on the list who is also in the
> recipient list?
Oh, that's pretty cunning, but it only works on closed lists properly,
and if everyone in existence used that ability, and if there was a way
to export via headers whether that behaviour is preferred on the list.
(actually, I could be wrong, but here's my thinking)
On non-closed lists, there're two ways off the top of my head for this
to cause problems:
a) something is sent to one or more lists and also one or more other
people,
b) something is sent to a list by someone not on the list.
With 'a', you have an announcement sent to a list and another person
(X), and that person using reply, sending to the initial sender (Z) and
the list. Subsequently, that person (the initial sender) will always
get two copies of the thread, since he was specifically named in the
reply, since the replier (X) didn't know it was a list post.
This happens when, say, a person submits a bug, and when the bug is
fixed, a notification of that bug fix is sent to that person, and the
mailing list to which the bug applies.
With closed lists, this'll just end in frustration for the bug-fixer.
If the closed list is BCC'd, this might work, but then the replies have
to be relayed to the list by the subscriber that sent the application
announcement to the person. (either an automated system like GNATS, or
the one what I'm more thinking of, a company department thanking someone
in another department for finding a bug)
Can't think of an easy way to do this.
With 'b', you have someone asking the engineering department for help on
something, and the engineering people press 'reply to recipients' and
don't include the initial sender in the reply.
This applies to 'help' lists like [EMAIL PROTECTED], or
[EMAIL PROTECTED], or things like that, and also a reasonably large number
of company lists. (This applies to "closed" lists with moderators for
non-member submissions too)
Lots of "relatively closed" or closed big lists also seem to prefer the
"reply to sender, Cc the list and the other people involved in the
thread" option in my experience.
That can be solved by a mail list header that specifies that you're
supposed to send to the sender too.
Neil
--
Neil Blakey-Milner
Sunesi Clinical Systems
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
