Reply-To header

[Peter Decker]

On 10/3/05, Roel Schroeven <rschroev_nospam_ml at fastmail.fm> wrote:

> The default of this list is not to make conversations private; in fact
> the list doesn't have any default. It's you who chooses to send replies
> to the original author, to the list, or both, by choosing which button
> to press in your mail client.

Interesting: which button do I press to reply only to the list? I'm
using Gmail, and it only has 'Reply' and 'Reply to all' as options.
One sends a private reply; the other sends 2 replies. I checked all my
other mail clients, and they work the same way.

Setting the default Reply-To: to the list means that 'Reply' sends
just to the list (the desired behavior most of the time), and 'Reply
to all' sends 2 copies.

I'm on several other lists, some of which default replies to the list,
and others which default to the sender. I've *never* seen threads like
this on the former, while such threads appear like clockwork on the
latter. Draw your own conclusion.

> Not that it matters that much to me, since I read practically all
> mailing lists via gmane.org. That turns the lists into newsgroups, where
> the reply button (follow-up, more accurately) does send the reply to the
> newsgroup.

So the answer is to not use the email interface, since the newsgroup
interface actually gets it right!  :)

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# p.d.