On Wed, 22 Sep 2004, Arnt Gulbrandsen wrote:
True, but I thought we were discussing a problem that arises when a mailing
list *is* used for a discussion. In that situation, it does become more like
USENET, and users have similar expectations of the two.
Some users do. Not all.
Yes. Agreed. Sorry. I should have said "some users".
Some people want mail to behave like mail, whether a list is involved or not.
Others want mailing lists to behave like usenet. To/Cc details are just
consequences of that basic difference. AFAICT, Keith seems to argue that To/Cc
should be set in a way suitable for the former desire, Charles the latter.
I'm afraid I can't suggest a response protocol that caters to both
expectations.
Well, there have been suggestions of three commands/buttons/whatever,
giving the user the choice of responding to
(a) The author, typically taking reply-to or from
(b) All - everything in reply-to/From, To, and Cc
(c) Followup - contents of MFT (fallback to (b) if not present)
Those that want "mail behaviour" use (a) or (b); those that want "usenet
behaviour" use (c). But I expect it isn't that simple.
Personally, I want a button that says "reply to this mailing list
posting so that it goes to the list and to any other addresses that it
should go to, according to the preferences of the author and/or list
manager (if any)". In other words, a "do the right thing" button. A
formal mailing list does not have to be involved. Any message that is
sent to multiple recipients can fall into this category.
Maybe such a thing is not possible. Otherwise this thread would not have
gone on so long.
At present, I use "reply to all" for virtually every message to which I
respond, whether it comes from a mailing list or not, though of course
it doesn't always do the right thing, and if I remember, I edit the
recipients manually sometimes when I know people don't want personal
copies. There are, of course, some exceptions, for which I just use
"reply", but these are pretty rare for me.
On the other side of the fence, I just quietly delete the duplicate
copies I receive because I know it isn't easy for the posters to find
out that I don't actually want them.
Philip
--
Philip Hazel University of Cambridge Computing Service,
ph10(_at_)cus(_dot_)cam(_dot_)ac(_dot_)uk Cambridge, England. Phone: +44
1223 334714.