Thanks for the thorough explanation, precisely what I was looking for. I can't seem to get used to "reply to all" as I don't see a point in replying to a particular address, since I'm sending the mail primarily to the discussion. It's exactly like those BBSs where there's a "reply" button for every post and you can only "reply to x". Well, that's a bad analogy since in this case we are still able to "choose". This is largely because I am, in fact, a newbie to MLs and I assumed most would default to a reply-to header. Anyhow, I say it again, it isn't a bad thing. The Arch Linux lists have it that way: http://www.archlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/
I had no intention of proposing a change, I merely wanted to know the reasoning behind the choice - and now I do (: On 06/04/2008, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Ray Rashif wrote: > > Hi > > > > I'm new to the ML and I can't help but wonder - why isn't there a > > reply-to header set by the list admin? Most of the other lists have > > this, and honestly it's nothing bad. In fact, it makes things easier > > when you can just click on "reply" (or use a reply operator on a CLI > > client) and expect the mail to be delivered to the list instead of the > > sender (in case one forgets to include a Cc). How do you handle this > > as it is currently? > > > The LUGS mailing list currently requires you to hit "Reply to all" on > mails intended for the list. > > For those interested in a rationale - there are two broad schools of > thought on Mailing List reply semantics - whether the list should set > the "Reply-to" header or not. > > The historical list netiquette (the policy used on slugnet), gnu mailman > default and recommended method (1) is to not set the Reply-To header. > Posters should click "Reply to All" to keep other posters on the thread > in the discussion as they may not be subscribers - or subscribers may > have procmail or sieve rules to handle mail To'd or Cc'd to them > differently (e.g. I have threads that I'm involved in the To or Cc > headers filed into a different folder to the general list traffic). This > approach makes it easier to reply back to the poster if you so wish > (without copying and pasting their address). Lists with this reply > policy include the linux-kernel mailing list, all of the debian lists, > and most other long standing open source projects... > > The alternative netiquette is for the list to set the Reply-To header so > that replies always go to the list. This is supposed to make sure that > discussion is kept on list (and also makes sure posts from newbies who > forget to hit "Reply-to-All" make it to the list). Many find this policy > quite restricting as whether you click "Reply" or "Reply-to-All", you > can't get it to reply to the original poster (2) - only the list - so > you need to copy and paste the email address if you wish to post only to > the sender. This policy is used by lists that have a lot of subscribers > who are not aware of the historical practices of Internet mailing lists > and are unaware of the rational behind doing it the right way™ > (mentioned above) :) > > If you can garner support for changing the policy for slugnet, then we > could take a vote (3) amongst the list members - in the mean time just > remember to click "Reply to all" when replying to list posts - the > method we have currently gives list posters a choice of where they want > their mail to go rather than forcing them into one way of doing it. > > Let the debating begin :) It's all in good humour ;) > > ~mc > > [1] Gnu mailman option for where are replies to list messages are > directed says 'Poster' is *strongly//* recommended for most mailing lists. > [2] Mozilla Thunderbird for example is unable to override Reply-to set > by the list and if the poster *chooses* to post only to the sender, then > he has to resort to cumbersome copy and paste operations. > [3] Please reply to me off-list and I'll tally and post the results - > BTW if we had Reply-To set we couldn't easily do this, we would be > sending many hundreds of mails out with just yes/no spamming everyone on > the list. >
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