In <416B59C9(_dot_)20506(_at_)erols(_dot_)com> Bruce Lilly
<blilly(_at_)erols(_dot_)com> writes:
Charles Lindsey wrote:
An MUA that chooses whether to followup to Usenet or to reply using email
simply on the basis of whether a Newsgroups-header is present is severely
broken, since it is normal behaviour for a message which is both posted to
Usenet and emailed to individual recipients to include a Newsgroup-header
(how else are recipients to know that both media were involved).
Charles, as you did not include a Reply-To field pointing to this list,
you forced respondents into using a "reply-to-all" function, and those
UAs which support both news and mail (including Netscape/Mozilla,
Outlook Express, and Pine, several of the most widely used UAs for either
mail or news) include specified newsgroups in such a "reply-to-all".
It does not surprise me in the least that Outlook Express is broken in
that respect, but I would have expected Netscape/Mozilla to have known
better. The only meaning that can be ascribed to the presence of a
Newsgroups header in an email message is that it signifies a message that
was both posted and mailed.
A User Agent that uses a "Reply" button to initiate a "Followup" is most
certainly broken (see www.xs4all.nl/~js/gnksa). It is a sad fact that most
MUAs which have been adapted to dual use as newsreaders make a pretty poor
job of their newsreading role.
--
Charles H. Lindsey ---------At Home, doing my own thing------------------------
Tel: +44 161 436 6131 Fax: +44 161 436 6133 Web: http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~chl
Email: chl(_at_)clerew(_dot_)man(_dot_)ac(_dot_)uk Snail: 5 Clerewood Ave,
CHEADLE, SK8 3JU, U.K.
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