The 2004-03-07 at 09:10 -0500, James Knott wrote:
each and every one of those, the default has always been to reply to the group as a whole and to the OP as the exception. For some idiotic reason, this list does the opposite. And yes I have read the stated sources and failed to find a satifactory reason for this policy.
There is a technical reason for that. Assume the list was as you said, that a reply would automatically go to the list. Now, think, in unix and linux there are many programs handling email, many things could be misconfigured. Suppose, for example, you misconfigure the "vacation" program, and to every email you receive from the list, say, a hundred per day, your machine automatically replies that you are on vacation. This reply would go back to SuSE, and posted to the thousand listers, including you, and trigger again your vacation program, and... (Programmer found dead on the shower. On his hand he had a shampoo bottle with this label: "Lather, Rinse, Repeat" :-p ). Simply making the default reply go to the original poster breaks the loop, or at least, limits its effect to just a few users.
If many people are complaining about the way a list is run, perhaps a reveiw is necessary, rather than telling people to accept it or leave.
No, this policy of reply will not change, forget it. There are sound technical reasons behind it. Rather, use your MTA appropriately (or configure procmail). -- Cheers, Carlos Robinson