Laird Breyer wrote:
True, but how often does an author change his response addresses
when posting messages to the same list over and over? Your return
path blilly(_at_)erols(_dot_)com hasn't changed on this list for months...
An author might very well change his recommendation for responses
on a per-message basis. Most of my messages to this list recommend
responses to the list, but it is certainly conceivable that an author
might specify responses sent directly to him (i.e. the author), with
the intention of subsequently posting a summary of those responses
to the list. Or he might copy one list on a message of potential
interest to that list based on the topic of a discussion taking place
on a different list, with responses directed to the list on which the
discussion is taking place.
True. But a human responder cannot know a priori the preferences of
the original message author, unless this author's MUA was configured
to send messages in a way which is interpreted identically by the
responder's MUA, ie both comply to exactly the same standard.
E.g. if my MUA sets Reply-To: and expects responses to that address,
but the responder's MUA ignores Reply-To: for some reason, and only
uses From: say, then the responder may not reply correctly.
"Correctly" doesn't enter into the discussion. The issue is whether
or not an author's recommendation for responses can be expressed,
and that is precisely the semantics of the Reply-To field. If a
respondent chooses to send a response elsewhere, that is his
prerogative.