[Mailman-Developers] Reply-To munging: stop the madness

[Marty Galyean]

On Tue, 2003-04-22 at 17:52, Dan Mick wrote:
> It *is* a per-subscriber option.  It's called "reply all".

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I'm not sure if it is in the spirit of a typical software 'option' if
you have to decide and choose 'reply all' every time.  Usually 'option'
means a setting you set and forget.

When cruising through my mail from various lists I inevitably forget to
'reply all' on lists where it is warranted and I end up sending a second
time to the list in a separate email.

What is really needed is for the user to be able to set on a folder by
folder (or even sender by sender) default reply behavior in the
*mailer*.  But this is no different than allowing them to specify it on
the list server really, I suppose.

Also, 'reply all' can be very annoying if the original message has a
bunch of other cc addys going on.

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It comes back to an adage that formed in my mind years ago after dealing
with certain project managers and clients:

    By definition, there are no simple solutions to complex problems. 
    Complexity must be unraveled on some level, either in code, or by
    the user and the unraveling is never simple because the problem is
    complex.

Which leads to the corollary:

    Complex code solutions will never be satisfactory to the user if the
    user doesn't take the time to comprehend the internal complexity to
    a meaningful degree (at least at the user interface level) so that
    they work with the grain of the solution instead of against it.
    
The last hurdle above makes some complex problems pointless to tackle at
all for tools of mass use because they will rarely be useful to the user
because they will never see the value of studying the complexity enough
to grok proper use of the 'solution'.

So it comes full circle in that complex people will always write complex
code for themselves and other complex people and simple people will
simply have to sink (drown in the confusion of options) or swim (take
the time to understand the options and the effect they have) or deal
with a simpler version that has fewer options.

I really thinkg that the 'tech stock bubble' popped because marketing
departments (and sometimes even developers) were promising simple
solutions to complex problems and there wasn't enough real money to
engineer complex solutions in the simple time/budget frames promised to
venture capitalists and consumers.

People will always have to understand tools to use them effectively. And
complex solutions to complex problems will always cost more in
time/money than simple solutions.  There is no way around it.

I personally prefer lists that always reply to the list.  This is
because lists interface with all types of people and I refuse to force
education on anyone, not out of high ideal, but out of exasperation.

So I 'vote' for the user pressing the 'Delete' button and creating
filters for dealing with too much traffic over using 'Reply-All' button
judiciously to limit traffic on the post end.  Not to mention the fact
that by using 'reply' instead of 'reply all' you are basically deciding
for the entire list membership whether your response is useful to them
or not.  I prefer people sling it out there and let the reader decide if
it's useful.

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Ok, I feel better now. :)

Marty