[OT] How do I reply to a thread by sending a message to python-list at python.org

[Dave Angel]

Frank Millman wrote:
> Hi all
>
> I mentioned yesterday that I had a problem sending a message to the
> newsgroup via the Outlook Express news reader.
>
> Today I received an email from DaveA, which was sent to me via
> python-list at python.org.
>
> I tried simply replying to the email, to see if it behaved better than
> Outlook Express. I hit 'Reply to all', so it 'replied' to the sender and
> cc'ed to python-list at python.org.
>
> I have just checked in google-groups and my message does appear, in the
> correct thread, but not in its correct thread position.
>
> Is there a proper way to do this, or is it better to stick to a news reader
> like Outlook Express?
>
> Thanks
>
> Frank Millman
>
> P.S. I am sending this message via email to python-list at python.org - let's
> see what happens.
>
>
>   
I use Thunderbird, and treat the list as ordinary mail.  I use 
reply-all, and it seems to do the right thing.  Or at least if I'm 
breaking threads, nobody has pointed it out to me yet.

I'm not sure how the list-server decides what thread a particular 
message belongs to.  It's more than just the subject line, since when 
people change the subject, it stays in the same thread.  I'm guessing 
it's somewhere in the boilerplate that's built by a normal mail program 
when it builds a reply message.  And since I don't see threads this way, 
I wouldn't know if I broke things.

I'd love to see an FAQ on how to handle these python.org mailing lists, 
with recommendations on settings to use both when you sign up for the 
list, and within various mail applications.  For example, I see a single 
message containing typically around 10 attachments.  I do the reply-all 
to one of these attachments, and it handles the message body okay, the 
To/CC fields okay, usually adds an extra RE: on the subject (so it 
becomes RE: RE: subject).  But it defaults to the wrong From: address, 
so I have to change that by hand.  I don't have that problem if I reply 
directly to a message, say from my in-box.

The FAQ could also cover conventions and other techniques, such as 
whether to use html or plain-text for messages, how to use ** to mark a 
word as bold, top-posting suggestions....

DaveA