[Novalug] reply etiquette

[James Ewing Cottrell 3rd]

I am not sure whether my question to this list generated this topic, or 
whether it is a separate topic. Here is The Definitive Reply on the 
subject, which is probably going to draw a number of flames.

[1] Traditionally, MOST MUAs have only two functions, Reply to Sender 
(RTS) and Reply To All (RTA). Very Few have Reply To List (RTL).

[2] Mailing List Exploders, like Mailman, can filter out the To: and CC: 
addresses, giving you only One Copy. As Mark (Wink) Smith pointed out, 
you get your Direct Copy faster.

[3] Given the existence of [2], a RTL function is not necessary. Of 
course, not all exploders will do this (not sure if majordomo did), so 
other "solutions" were created.

[4] As more non-technical people enter the Net, the (usually Graphic) 
User Interface is simplified; there are less knobs to twiddle. Diect 
access to Headers, and the ability to insert and filter them are 
generally not available to users anymore.

[5] The precise set of mail headers and their exact meaning is 
confusing, even to a Postmaster such as myself, who has been reading 
RFCs for a quarter of a century now.

[6] Different people and (computer) cultures will look at the framework 
and build vastly different systems (for example, M$ people tend to look 
at Date When Mail Was Received rather than when it was sent).

[7] One consequence is that many people will attempt to use Reply-To: 
for mailing lists, when I believe (sigh, because of [5] and generic 
ennui, I have not read the Mail RFCs in awhile, so I am guessing here) 
that Reply-To: is intended to be the property of the User rather than 
the Mailing List.

[8] To expand on [4], most people probably use LookOut (possibly the 
express version) or Thunderbird, or some version of a Web Mailer.

[9] In My Opinion, the LUGs (actually, anyone using Mailman) does things 
The Right Way.

JIM

Jon LaBadie wrote:
> When reading a mailing list, my mail reader, mutt,
> has separate commands that allow me to reply to the 
> list only, the poster only, or both.  Personally I
> see no reason to reply to both the list and the poster.
> Yet others must, as replies to my postings are regularly
> addressed to both the list and myself.
> 
> Am I alone in the opinion that replying to one or the other
> is most appropriate?  What do others feel about the
> practice of replying to both the list and individual?
> 
> Jon
> 
> 
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