[ criticism of a followup field ]
* It is introducing a new concept;
It is working with the concept that already exists in dozens of MUAs.
The big problem, as is obvious from this discussion, is coming up with a
good name.
* It requires UAs to restrict their reply-using-destination-fields
behavior when it is present,
Yes, it's a change in the followup behavior. That's the whole point.
rather than permitting them to extend
their basic reply behavior when it is present.
I don't understand. Do you have some specific change in mind? How does
it conflict with a change in followup behavior?
Hmmm. I get the feeling that you think I'm talking about writing a spec.
I'm not. I'm talking about changing the behavior of real MUAs. The only
relevant people are MUA implementors.
* It requires originators to supply too much information; they must
not only suggest how recipients should deal with their own address,
but must also suggest how to deal with all destination addresses.
Why is this a problem? Could you give a specific example where the
originator would have trouble coming up with the information?
The followup field is the same as From+To+Cc by default. The MUA can
automatically remove the From address if it knows that the user is on a
mailing list shown in To+Cc. The followup field is copied into
subsequent followups.
[ new proposal ]
Here's an alternative which I think betters `followup' on every one of
those points: Define a `Reply-Cc' field, with the semantics that the
address(es) in the Reply-Cc field should be copied to the Cc field of
the reply;
Later you make clear that you're proposing a change purely in reply
behavior, not in followup behavior.
Replies are typically sent to Reply-To defaulting to From. You're saying
that they should be sent to Reply-To+Reply-Cc defaulting to From. Right?
Aside from Reply-To munging and the difference between To and Cc, your
proposal adds no new capabilities. A user can simply merge your Reply-Cc
into Reply-To to obtain the same results.
Your real proposal is the same as Keith's: you want to put the mailing
list into Reply-To, and the sender's personal reply address into From.
You expect MUAs to have a respond-to-From-ignoring-Reply-To function.
Right?
---Dan
Let your users manage their own mailing lists. http://pobox.com/~djb/qmail.html