Philip Hazel writes:
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.
It is a bit much to ask of people. People hate hurdles in their way,
particularly ones that require abstract thinking.
I tried to implement something like that, but less abstract and not
demanding an instant answer. In the reply window, I added a pane asking
where to reply, showing the concrete consequences on-screen (ie. which
addresses would be included/excluded for each type of reply). It still
was a bit of a pain.
It seems to me that there is an inherent and unavoidable conflict: To
select the right type of reply requires significantly more care and
attention than email writers are used to now. Most are used to hitting
one key and typing away.
...
At present, I use "reply to all" for virtually every message to which
I respond,
...
I guess you're really avoiding a hurdle. Having to make a conscious
decision when you want to start typing is an unpleasant distraction.
Someone's going to flame now, I'm sure.
Arnt