At 09:48 2004-05-29 -0500, David W. Tamkin wrote:
1. Someone on a reply-to-sender list doesn't grasp the notion of using
the MUA's reply-to-all function and always sends public replies to posts
by starting a reply and replacing the previous author's address with
that of the list. Then such a person mistakes an incoming private reply
for a list post and quotes the sender's private text into the list.
Heh, it's easy enough to [Reply All] and DELETE the addresses which don't
belong.
2. I once knew someone who distrusted his mailer's reply command
entirely and never used it. He always answered mail by copying and
pasting the text into a fresh message and entering the outgoing address
by hand. When he had posted to a list and mistook a private reply for a
posted one, he blithely quoted it back into the list, and if you told
him that was wrong, he whined back, "I'll do anything I want."
Granted, there was only one doofus who did #2, but I've seen #1 quite a lot.
No, there's quite a few doofuses who do that. Perhaps it seems less common
on computer tech lists, but leave the tech arena, you'll find a lot of
idjuts who:
* reply to an UNRELATED existing message and change the subject.
(this brings in other thread tracking headers inappropriate to
the reply).
* create new messages for each reply. Generally lacking an Re:
header,
so EVERY one of their posts looks like a NEW message, rather
than part of a thread. Additionally, they lack thread
tracking
headers.
* Reply All even when it is well understood that people ON the list
will receive copies of replies sent there. This extends to
idjuts who reply all to messages which had previously done
this, such that they're not even directly replying to points
made by the people they're assaulting with their message.
* Take tech threads OFFLIST, depriving the list population of useful
information, and in doing so, also increasing the one-on-one
uncompensated efforts of the person to whom they are sending
their continuing techical questions to. The people who do
this get rather indignant when the person they're leeching
the life from points out that they'd rather deal with tech
issues ONLIST where others can benefit and contribute.
* run buggy mailers that for some reason take the envelope sender
and use that in replies rather than the From: or (commonly
absent on the lists in question) Reply-To:. These people
somehow reply to the listowner with their messages to the
list.
I always appreciate when people claim they do something because the correct
way (as explained to them) "doesn't work". That's probably because they
can't follow directions worth squat.
---
Sean B. Straw / Professional Software Engineering
Procmail disclaimer: <http://www.professional.org/procmail/disclaimer.html>
Please DO NOT carbon me on list replies. I'll get my copy from the list.
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