Re: RFD: Set Reply-To to list if not already set

Joerg Mayer wrote:

> Just a thing that has been annoying me for a while now: In many cases,
> I receive two answers, when I post to this list: One to the list and one
> to me personally. In order to avoid that, I need to set the reply-to to
> the list address.
> In most cases a reply to the list would be the preferred behaviour anyway,
> so would it
> a) be doable with the current mailman software to change an empty (aka
>    non existent) reply-to to the list address
> b) preferrable to most list members?
> That way, whenever they really want a personal reply in addition to the
> list reply, they can set the reply-to header.

The MailMan documentation provides links arguing for and against this 
behavior:

     http://www.metasystema.org/essays/reply-to-useful.mhtml (for)
     http://www.unicom.com/pw/reply-to-harmful.html (against)

As Guy pointed out, we run the risk of someone not subscribed not 
getting a reply.  We also run the risk of a reply that was meant to be 
private being broadcasted to the list instead.  In spite of this, I 
think it makes sense to change the "Reply-To:" header.  We already 
rewrite the subject line to indicate that the message came from the 
list.  Changing the "Reply-To:" header would be consistent with that.

Unless there are strong objections within the next 24 hours I'll make 
the change on ethereal-dev, -users, and -doc.