[Mailman-Developers] Reply-To munging considered *carefully*

[Michael B. Trausch]

On Thu, 2009-10-15 at 02:05 +0900, Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:
> Barry Warsaw writes:
> 
>  > It's actually easy too.  An MUA need only recognize List-Post and add  
>  > a Reply to List button which would strip all the recipients and put  
>  > the List-Post value in the To header.  Problem solved.
> 
> Wrong problem.  The users Michael is representing want a one-button MUA.

Not at all.  I am _not_ only advocating a single position here.  I'm
advocating that there is, can be, should be, and must be a universally
applicable solution found here.  That said, I think the MUA is simply
the wrong place for it; current models aim to control the user in one
way or another, or lack flexibility in exchange for convenience or vice
versa.  It doesn't have to be that way; it's not 1970, folks.

Perhaps what is really required to make _everyone_ happy is a system
that is _designed_ to make everyone happy.  Let's face it:  Most
software in the realm of mailing lists is aimed for at least a
marginally technical audience.  Why not aim more broadly and create
something that _can_ make everyone happy, without saying "your MUA is
broken," and for that matter is 100% functional in a manner that is 100%
MUA-agnostic.

Only a user can judge if his/her MUA is broken; you cannot do it for me,
and I cannot do it for you.  If you want to use "mail" at the command
line, I'd say that's a poor choice of MUA, but you know what?  I'm not
you, and so why should I care?  It is not my place to impose upon you
requirements for proper MUA, Newsreader, Web browser, or any other
technology's behavior.

Here is an idea that is a _starting point_, that maybe would be useful
to pursue.  I doubt anyone here would be interested, but I plan to
pursue it anyway:

http://mike.trausch.us/blog/2009/10/14/on-mailing-list-management-software-part-1/
Short link:  http://is.gd/4jzy9

	--- Mike

-- 
Blog:  http://mike.trausch.us/blog/
Misc. Software:  http://mike.trausch.us/software/

“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too
high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving
our mark.” —Michelangelo