[Zope] Reply To:

[John Morton]

Michael Simcich writes:
 > This may be well hashed for most here but I'm curious about this. I've
 > noticed that most true mailing lists operate like this zope list, whereas
 > the lists I subscribe to via services like eGroups perform more
 > like Curtis would like it.

http://www.unicom.com/pw/reply-to-harmful.html

The digest version is that adding a reply-to field clobbers legitimate 
reply-to headers, that many mail readers will have difficulty replying 
to the sender's address without resorting to cut and paste, and that
it renders the 'reply to all' function on most mailers useless. 

Further more, on 'reply-to' style lists it's quite common to see
replies to messages that were intended to be send to the sender end up 
on the list - to the annoyance of the list readers, and often the
embarrassment of the person replying.

 > I'm with Curtis on this, it seems much simpler to just send
 > the reply to the list... if I hit "reply to all" the person I'm responding
 > to and the others that have particpated in the thread get at least two
 > copies... one direct and one via the list. I'd have thought that the
 > multi-copy thing would quite bothersome for most overloaded
 > list-partakers.

This is the downside to CC style lists. One day it will piss me off
enough to write a patch for Mailman so that it won't send a message to 
a list member if they are already in the To: or CC: fields. 

 > Plus the fact that at least some of the time messages must unintentionally
 > never make it to the list. 

Better than the other way around. See above.

 > I can sure live with it the way it is... but can
 > you give me an idea why "the standard makers" thought the way they did/do?
 
The Reply-To field is intended to be a way for you to indicate the
email address that you can be contacted with when the one your sending 
from doesn't necessarily receive email - ie, you're migrating between
accounts, or posting to a publicly accessible list from an account
that isn't receiving email from that list. Whatever. The point is that 
we want to keep people's reply-to fields where possible. 

John.