Don't feed the troll...

[Ben Finney]

Oscar Benjamin <oscar.j.benjamin at gmail.com> writes:

> There is a very simple solution used by many mailing lists

Yes, that solution is described in RFC 2369: the “List-Post” field in
the header of every message sent through the mailing list.

> which is to set the Reply-To header to point back to the mailing list.

That is not a solution, since the ‘Reply-To’ field already has a
different purpose contrary to your intent. It is to be set by the person
sending the message, if they choose. It is not for some intermediary to
interfere with.

It is a field for the sender to direct *individual* responses back to
themselves – and, if they don't set that field, no intermediary should
abuse it.

> That way any old email client on any OS/computer/phone/website etc.
> has the required button to reply to the list without CCing anyone.

By breaking the standard “reply to author” behaviour. This is not a
solution.

The “List-Post” field has been standard for more than a decade. If
anyone is using an MUA that doesn't use it, please imrpove that
situation: pressure your vendor to fix that deficiency, and/or switch to
a better mail client until then.

> It also reduces the chance of accidentally replying off-list.

What damage is done by accidentally replying off-list? At worst, you
merely need to send the message again to the list. The damage is
minimal, and easily rectified.

Your proposed interference with the “Reply-To” field, though, invites
much more serious errors: it sets up a person to send a message to
people they did *not* intend, when using a function (“reply to author”,
often simply called “reply”) specifically for reaching the sender
*only*.

If your message contains information only intended to be seen by the
author to whom they are replying, the standard behaviour for “Reply-To”
gives the reasonable expectation it will go only to the author. But if a
broken mailing list that munges “Reply-To” to direct your reply to the
whole mailing list, that is damage which can't be un-done.

Please don't propose breaking standard behaviour by interfering with the
meaning of standard fields.

We have exactly the fields we need already: the RFC 2369 fields are in
the header of every message from the mailing list. The “List-Post”
field, saying where mail should be directed to reach the mailing list,
is exactly what is needed.

-- 
 \     “Ours is a world where people don't know what they want and are |
  `\       willing to go through hell to get it.” —Donald Robert Perry |
_o__)                                                          Marquis |
Ben Finney