[Savoynet] list settings

[Chris Angelico]

On Sat, Apr 7, 2012 at 12:50 AM, Freed <freedabet at aol.com> wrote:
> New here.  The list is set so that ‘reply’ goes only to the sender, not the
> list.  Is that intentional?  Most lists are set so that ‘reply’ goes to the
> list by default.  Doesn’t look like I can change that for emails that come
> to me, can I?

I don't think you can change that, it's part of the list
configuration. But here's the rationale as given for another list that
has the same setup: If the default reply-to is the list, then private
replies risk being sent to the list; but if default reply is to the
single sender, the only risk is that you then have to re-send to the
list. You can't un-send something once hundreds of people have seen
it; you CAN re-send so that the correct people get to see it.

Also, you can always use Reply-All to send to the list. I don't like
this, though, as it ends up sending to the original poster and also to
the list, and if multiple people start doing this, the To line starts
to get unnecessarily long. However, it does work; and it's something
that has no equivalent in the alternative arrangement - you can't use
any default form of sending to choose to make your message more
private.

My personal habit is to write up my reply, then choose one of three
ways to send:
1) Hit Send, and communicate only with one person
2) Replace the To: address with the list's and hit Send
3) Hit Discard because the post isn't worth sending after all.

Option 2 does have some risk, of course. I've sometimes replied to a
completely wrong list (mainly between the two most active lists I'm a
member of, they being python-list and one about Gilbert and Sullivan
operas called "Savoynet"), which is embarrassing but not a breach of
privacy (both lists are archived publicly); it would be far worse to
snap off a quick reply to someone that includes private details like
user names and passwords, and then to find you sent it to every
subscriber on the list... All in all, I prefer the current situation.

ChrisA