[Mailman-Users] Reply to list

[Paul H Byerly]

I asked
>       I have never understood why this poster is recommended, nor why it 
> is  the default.  I've been on a lot of lists, on a lot of systems, and 
> have  never been on one that defaults to sending a response only to the 
> author of  the post I am replying to.


and Thomas Hochstein replied
><http://www.unicom.com/pw/reply-to-harmful.html>


      Thanks - I understand the points made there.  HOWEVER, I would say 
that the big list providers like Yahoo, Topic and the rest have made "reply 
to list" the expected norm.  Times have changed - lists are not long used 
only by folks who know how to build a computer from scratch and program it 
themselves.  A lot of user have been conditioned to hit "reply" without 
thinking.  Additionally, a lot of folks don't want a private copy plus one 
to the list - and done as the author suggests there is no quick and easy 
way to send to the list only.  Then there was this:

"Look at the original message header, write down the sender's email 
address, hit the "r" key, call up the header editing menu, erase the 
current To: value, and type in the sender's full email address.  And pray 
the correct address wasn't wiped out when the Reply-To was munged."

      Has this fellow never heard of cut and paste?  I've never had a 
problem adding the author as a cc, or sending to the author rather than the 
list.  Yes it's a bit more work, but as it's the exception rather than the 
rule for me it's not a problem.  And as a list manager with a lot of 
computer illiterate folks I'm very glad I've set up the most often desired 
behaviour as the default.  Mailman does not destroy the original senders 
identify or e-mail, so this part of the argument is moot.  Additionally you 
have digests, which can't reply to author automatically.

      Bottom line, I can understand that there was a time when reply to 
author made sense for a lot of lists, but I don't think that is the case 
anymore.

<>< Paul, who ironically got this to the list, not the author, by hitting 
reply (digest).