Re: Off-Forum Replies Happen!

On Oct 15, 2007, 00:15 (-0400) Ross <[email protected]> wrote:

> I find the Pine-info forum a bit strange in handling email addresses for 
> replies. It is very easy to accept the wrong reply option, "All - yes or 
> no", "Reply-To - yes or no", forget to manually correct the problem 
> during a reply, & go off forum. No matter which selection is made, reply 
> is not directly back to the Pine-info forum list.
> 
> Most all forums I access always provide the correct forum reply-to 
> address, this forum drops it mainly for the original sender, offering 
> the Pine-info list address only as as cc:, or drops it all together if a 
> Reply-To address is accepted from the sender. Am I missing something?  
> Maybe this not a forum - just a list system?

Your are sticking your head into an old debate how a mailing list should 
be configured. (Yes, this is a list. I do not have any opinion if it also 
is a "forum".)

One opinion is that a mailing list should transfer the mail to the list 
member unchanged from what the originator of the mail has written. 
According to that school, the list program should not insert a new 
"reply-to", or even override the "reply-to" that was originally there. 
(Your mail had a "reply-to" and there could only be one.)

According to the other school, a list should insert a "reply-to" to ensure 
that all replies are going back to the list.

If a "reply-to" is inserted it is hard to reply just to the original 
sender, which means that private answers risk of being spread to the 
entire list. If no "reply-to" is inserted, then there is a risk that 
replies meant for the entire list is only sent to the original sender.

For this list you actually have a choice. If you want to make sure that 
any answer to your mail is sent to the list, then you could insert a 
"reply-to" to the list in your mail to the list.


> Yet when I receive a message from the Pine-info forum list, the
> email is not from the forum, it is from the sender that posted the
> message.

Changing that would be an even greater intrusion into the original mail. 
That is a no-no for the former shool.


> Is this an old subject I missed?

Yes, it has been going on for the last 15-20 years.



Mats

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Mats Dufberg                                      [email protected]
Blåarvsgränd 42                                    +46-8-38 48 59
SE-162 45 Vällingby, Sweden                       +46-70-258 2588

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