Re: mailing list misconfiguration

[Miles Bader <miles@...>]

On Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 11:54 PM, Kevin Vermeer <reemrevnivek@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 3:10 AM, GrayFace <sergroj@mail.ru> wrote:
>> > You can use reply-to-all and remove the mailing list from recipients I
>> > think.
>
> That doesn't work for me. (Email client: gmail web interface)

Works for me in gmail though -- gmail has a "reply-all" button.

> 2010/8/30 Miles Bader <miles@gnu.org>
>> That doesn't work if the sender's reply-to header has been overwritten
>> by the mailing list manager.  It's not a case of "inconvenience" then,
>> it's a case of "information loss."
>
> You're right that reply-to-all doesn't include the sender's email by
> default.  However, it's incorrect to state that information has been
> lost.   The sender is defined by the From: field, which is not
> necessarily equal to the Reply-To: field - otherwise the latter would
> have no reason to exist.  This is why you were able to send your
> message to both GrayFace and the list.

I think you missed my point.  It's exactly in the case where a sender
to the list includes his own Reply-To: header different from his From:
header that information-loss occurs:  the sender's Reply-To: header
will be lost if the mailing-list manager overwrites it.  In that case,
the sender's preferred personal reply-address is lost (because it only
existed in the Reply-To header, not in From), and copying from From:
does the wrong thing for personal replies.

-Miles

-- 
Cat is power.  Cat is peace.