Mailinglist Archive: opensuse-project (189 mails)

[Thomas Hertweck <Thomas.Hertweck@xxxxxx>]

Eric Springer wrote:
> [...]
> I really disagree with his take. First off, the expected behavior of
> replying in a mailing list, would be to reply to the mailing list.
> It's the same as bulletin boards and forums.

No, it isn't. That's why it's called a mailing list and not a forum in
the first place ;-)

> Secondly, he keeps talking of how you lose the ability to reply to the
> author. He's extremely overblown it. Here's a header from a normal
> mailing list:
>
>
> From: "xxxxxxx " <xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: kde-devel@xxxxxxx
> Reply-To: kde-devel@xxxxxxx, xxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxx
>
>
> If I I want to reply privately, I hit "reply" and remove the mailing
> list. Honestly, it couldn't be simpler. I have no idea what he's on
> about. I've not "lost freedoms" at all.

Yes, you have, you just haven't realized yet. Good MUAs have a "Reply",
"Reply-to-list" and "Reply-all" functionality. So there's no need to
remove email addresses at any time (as opposed to your solution), you
only have to choose to whom you would like to reply (sender=reply,
list=reply-to-list, sender+list=reply-all). mutt, KMail, Thunderbird
(with an extension) and probably also other MUAs have a list-reply
functionality as far as I know. You may have to reconsider your "it
couldn't be simpler" statement, I would call the current solution a
lot more elegant.

> [...]
> In all fairness, if the "mailing list" header is enough information
> for an email client to reliable determine the mailing list address, it
> a limitation of mail clients. But like most things, I think it's best
> to be pragmatic and work around it, and reply-to really is the best
> solution imo.

We have discussed this many times, please check the archive of various
opensuse mailing lists. The task of a mailing list software is to
distribute emails, not to fiddle around with (existing) email headers.
It shouldn't do that at all (maybe add an X-Mailinglist header, though).
The reply-to-list issues should be handled at the user's end, i.e. by
the MUA. I can, of course, already hear what you are going to say, which
is: other mailing lists do indeed set the reply-to address to the mailing
list. Well, that's correct. But it doesn't mean it's right. Those mailing
list administrators are just less strict than Henne ;-)

Regards, Th.

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