ietf-822
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Re: Understanding response protocols

2004-09-16 01:13:35

On Wed, 15 Sep 2004, Alan Barrett wrote:

(a)  Reply-To specifies the complete list of recipients that the author
     thinks should receive replies

while other people think that

(b)  Reply-To specifies a list of recipients to be used instead of the
     From address when directing replies.

[snip]

Meaning (b) of the Reply-To field is so deeply entrenched that I
think it would be impossible to get the world to use Reply-To with
meaning (a).  So we seem to need a new field to have meaning (a).
Mail-Followup-To seems to fit the bill.

I would not be opposed to redefining Reply-To to have meaning (b).  Many
people use it that way already.

FWIW, I entirely agree with Alan's view. 

-- 
Philip Hazel            University of Cambridge Computing Service,
ph10(_at_)cus(_dot_)cam(_dot_)ac(_dot_)uk      Cambridge, England. Phone: +44 
1223 334714.