[Mailman-Developers] Author_is_list option in upcoming mailman 2.1.16

[Stephen J. Turnbull]

Franck Martin writes:

 > One may argue that since the list is modifying the message, it is
 > now the new author of it, this proposal just make it more clearly. 

Nonsense.  Here's what RFC 5322 says:

   The "From:" field specifies the author(s) of the message, that is,
   the mailbox(es) of the person(s) or system(s) responsible for the
   writing of the message.

The list obviously isn't responsible for the writing of the message
body, and you could argue that in adding header/footer and munging
attachments and Subject field it's acting as the agent of the author,
who is therefore responsible for them too.[1]

If that's not convincing, ask any of your users if they think "the
list" is an author of their posts, or anybody else's.

OTOH, if you want to make an authorship claim validly, there's an easy
way to accomplish it: encapsulate the whole thing in message/rfc822.

Steve



Footnotes: 
[1]  Note that RFC 5322's phrasing also clearly refutes the same
argument when made for "Reply-To".