Reply-To (was Re: Proposed Web site redesign (beta))

[Jeremy Turner]

On Tue, Nov 09, 2004 at 12:49:52PM -0600, Tom Bruno wrote:
> I'd love to have the return address be kclug at kclug.org,  most of the 
> time reply's come striaght to me when i post, and not to the list, where 
> they should have been. Especially when talking about Chris's wreck.   
> Maybe new topic?

Here are my thoughts, and then I will keep silent on the mailing list.
If you want to follow up with a Reply to me directly, that's fine. 
*Every single list* I subscribe to has had this issue brought up.
There are times when I want to email a list poster directly, and there
are times when I want to email back to the list for the archives.

If the mailing list sets the reply-to back to the mailing list, the
following happens:

* Any reply-to that the list poster set is now gone. This violates the
  defination of the Reply-To header, meaning that Reply-To is the
  preferred location to reply back to the original poster.

* If I click "Reply" in most email clients, it replies back to the
  mailing list (usually good).

* If I click "Reply to all" in most email clients, it replies back to
  the mailing list (no new functionality), since by defination the
  Reply-To header is supposted to supercede the address listed in the
  From header.

* If I click "Reply to list" (yes, it's available in most sane email
  clients that they won't let you use at work), I reply back to the
  list.

* If I want to reply directly to the person who posted, I must go back
  to their original message and copy their email address, then go back
  into the new email address and paste it into the To header.  This is
  why changing the Reply-To is a bad idea.

If the mailing list does not set the reply-to back to the mailing list,
then the following happens:

* If I click "Reply to list," I send a reply that goes back to the list.

* If I click "Reply," I send a reply that goes back to the person.

* If I click "Reply to all," I send a reply that goes to the original
  person, as well as the list.  If I do not have a "Reply to list"
  option, I can use this and then trim off the extra email addresses.

* The Reply-To header set by the poster is honored by the mailing list,
  and can be used successfully.

We are creatures of habit and get used to using the Reply button and
want the Reply button to do different things based on a different
context.  We should mold our email clients to conform to the standards,
not transform our email to fit our email clients.

Actually this fits in well with the current thread and compliant web
browsers. =)

Okay, I'm done.  That probably adds up to more than $.02.

Jeremy