(OT) Reply-To (was Re: Compile Error)

[Christian Stimming]

Am Dienstag, 27. Dezember 2005 01:42 schrieb Tim Wunder:
> > PS: in the future, PLEASE REPLY TO THE LIST!
>
> Which begs the question... why not set the reply-to header to be the list?

No no no no no. Please don't let this header munging extend to any mailing 
list around here. There are good reasons why header munging (i.e. the 
changing of the Reply-To) field is discouraged everywhere around. For 
example: 

 1. there are instances when I really want to answer only the sender, not to 
the list; 
 2. in all other cases I may want to write to both the sender and the list 
(because the list server might be down or might delay my response); 
 3. Some senders may want to use the Reply-To field to set an actually 
different email address to send a response to; that information is 
irrevocably lost.

All three are almost impossible once the Reply-To field has been changed. (Try 
it on the -patches list!)

No no no no. Please don't mess with the Reply-To field. I already hate it from 
the two times when I replied to the -patches list recently, where I really 
only wanted to write to the sender (#1 above). Really don't do this.

This is a problem of social convention, and if the convention is not (yet) 
known then there simply isn't a technical solution to the social question. 

Christian