[Moin-user] change default recipient for reply to "list" instead of "sender"

[Nigel Metheringham]

On 6 Jun 2007, at 15:35, Jim Popovitch wrote:
> If you don't have the list set up for Reply-to-List, then you end up
> with a list archive of questions with few answers.

And if you do have it set you have an archive filled with crap and  
excess
replies.

The way we used to run mailing lists is that someone asked a question  
and took
responses directly to them (unless the responder reckoned it was  
definitely
worth putting to the list for discussion). The original questioner  
then wrote
a summary post of the responses they had and ideally included  
information on
what worked for them and why. This kept traffic down and kept the  
archives as
relatively high quality, but obviously put more work on those  
participating -
but that work was worth it. We also expected people to at least  
attempt to use
the archives - and many questions did say that they had tried something
similar to a previous answer, but that it wasn't working for them....

Nowadays people just can't be arsed - they expect other folks to be  
there to
do their work for them, so queries go straight to the lists without  
even the
slightest hint of previous research, and there may be a bunch of  
answers to
queries, but normally half or more of them are from people who did  
not read
the question or engage brains before applying fingers to keyboards.


On 7 Jun 2007, at 09:37, Chris G wrote:
> Yes, and userfriendly to many/most users of the list means *not*
> setting up a ReplyTo address.  It's never possible to satisfy everyone
> on a list completely, one has to come up with a best compromise that
> most people can work with.  Other lists with a different mix of users
> may decide on a different configuration but that doesn't make it right
> for this list.

Absolutely.

> On Thu, Jun 07, 2007 at 08:09:28AM +0200, Sebastian Haase wrote:
>> Try to think practical.
>> Everyone has only limited time.

Ah - the "I have only limited time so you must do exactly as I want"  
argument
- very close to the "Please do my homework for me" argument.


>> I don't have time to learn too much about MUAs.

The MUA is your main tool for accessing mail and interacting with  
this sort of
forum. If you feel you cannot spare time to get to know how to use it  
do you
think we should spend extra time helping you out?

If people feel everyone else owes them assistance they are wrong.  
Community
participation goes two ways.

For the lists I run (not this one), the stated policy on this is now  
that
Reply-To is not and will not be forced on the list, unless and until  
someone
puts the conclusive argument to me that it should be set and/or finds  
my price
and bribes me appropriately. I can be bought - but I'm greedy too. Of  
course
there is the alternative - go and build your own empire.

I find the few lists I am on that set Reply-To are unnatural and tend  
to have
a lower signal-to-noise ratio than the others.

</rant><!-- and with much less flamage than I was orignally thinking-->

     Nigel.
--
[ Nigel Metheringham           Nigel.Metheringham at InTechnology.co.uk ]
[ - Comments in this message are my own and not ITO opinion/policy - ]