Benji Weber wrote:
On 4/12/07, John Summerfield
wrote: I've had enough of this list, I really do not like off-list replies to my attempts to help people.
They are bad because 1. It breaks filtering (the list-id header is present in mail from the list and it's sensible to use it to filter email). 2. Other people can't see my errors and correct them. I'm not perfect. 3. Other people can't see corrections to my errors and learn from them. 4. Off-list replies don't get archived. 5. It breaks threading. I like email one topic to be grouped into one thread. Since most email clients support this feature, I suspect others value it too.
Quite.
I frequently accidentally email people off-list due to the reply-to being not set to the list. Which I expect may be responsible for most of the off-list emailing. Default reply for many email clients is to reply off-list.
I set a reply-to header to the list, so that the default for a reply is directed to the list. My server only accepts mails to the list address from the mailinglist server. If someone wants to send a private mail to me the contact address is shown in my signature.
I equate off-list with spam, and unless I specifically give you permission to email me, you don't have the right.
This is rediculous.
Why? Aside from the annoying spam to the list addresses (spammers like web archives!) the purpuse of a support mailinglist is to help each other and have the archive available as a research base. Private replies defeat this purpose. For these reasons I do not understand why you think it is ridiculous. Sometimes I get private replies because the requested logs or configuration files contain private data, but otherwise I see no reason for private replies. Being lazy on your part does not constitute a good reason for private replies. -- Sandy List replies only please! Please address PMs to: news-reply2 (@) japantest (.) homelinux (.) com -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org