[ODE] Suggestion for List admin

[Royce3]

Personally, I'm in favor of Reply-To munging, but this discussion
has gotten way too long-winded for my tastes. I'd much rather be
coding. I know how the list works, and I manually type in the To
address whenever I reply to it. Fortunately the ODE mailing address
is rather short and easy to remember. ( Incidentally I won't use
Reply-To-All because that means the author of the message I'm replying
to will get the message twice - unsatisfactory in my opinion ).

Just my 2 cents... now back to coding!

>
>Subject: Re: [ODE] Suggestion for List admin
>   From: <skjold@cistron.nl>
>   Date: Fri, 14 Feb  2003 14:21:51
>     To: ode@q12.org
>
>Sam Clegg wrote:
>> http://www.unicom.com/pw/reply-to-harmful.html
>
>Mailing lists are used for different things. Some are really a distribution mechanism, no more and no less. In those cases, replies are often sent directly (and privately) to the original author of an email. This ODE mailing list, however, is more of a discussion forum than a distribution list. It might as well have been an online message board. I think this distinction between how mailing lists are used, is important in deciding how to configure (or munge) things such as the Reply-To address. In the end, however, I agree with the author of the above article, that what's most important is what the users of a mailing list prefer themselves. So perhaps it's worth it to poll for this. I myself would prefer munging the Reply-To address in this case.
>
>About the arguments presented at the link given above:
>
>> It violates the principle of minimal munging. 
>Minimal munging does not necessarily mean minimal configuration, and configuration of any system depends on how it's applied.
>
>> It provides no benefit to the user of a reasonable mailer. 
>> It limits a subscriber's freedom to choose how he or she will direct a response. 
>> It actually reduces functionality for the user of a reasonable mailer. 
>> It penalizes the person with a reasonable mailer in order to coddle those running brain-dead software. 
>My mailer software isn't the problem. I just don't think that Reply-To-Group is necessarily the right way to reply to a mailing list. The list of addresses is maintained centrally, so I think it should be up to the distributing system to distribute my replies. That's what it's for. Also I don't see how it's considered limiting in any way, in fact I think it's rather a matter of convenience. As for the functionality, I never saw a Reply-To-List-Only option in any mailer, so I would argue that it actually adds functionality.
>
>> It removes important information, which can make it impossible to get back to the message sender. 
>That may or may not be the case, depending on other settings of the list admin. But in case the original author's email address is removed (if it's also not there in the From field), then there might be a reason for it, such as privacy.
>
>> It violates the principle of least work because complicates the procedure for replying to messages.
>> It violates the principle of least surprise because it changes the way a mailer works. 
>Again that depends on what the list is used for. I totally understand this argument, but if the list is used as a public discussion forum then I think almost all replies are sent to the list anyway. So then it becomes less work, and also less surprising I think, if the Reply-To field is nicely munged.
>
>> It violates the principle of least damage, and it encourages a failure mode that can be extremely embarrassing -- or worse. 
>That's an argument in favor of coddling the brain-dead: "Don't munge the Reply-To field, someone might use it by accident." It's common knowledge that introducing convenience often implies added risk, there's nothing you can do about that except find a good balance. And that balance is rather subject to opinion, because even though risk might be considered calculable, convenience is not.
>
>> Your subscribers don't want you to do it. Or, at least the ones who have bothered to read the docs for their mailer don't want you to do it.
>Let's poll for that. I'll settle for whatever the majority decides.
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