Wouter Verhelst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > You know, I use a mail program. Replying to people is in my fingers > as "hitting a button". A very specific button, especially for that > purpose. I expect my MUA to Do The Right Thing (TM).
Most MUAs will do the right thing when you reply; they'll send a message to the single person who wrote the message. The person who wrote the message can indicate where this single-person reply should go, by specifying header fields such as 'From' and 'Reply-To'. Many MUAs also have a separate specific facility, for replying to *every* address related to the discussion. This is fine for a group of individuals, but problematic for a mailing list, since one of those addresses will be the mailing list address itself, and then some people get two copies -- one individually (which usually arrives first, since it has less processing time) and one from the mailing list. With mailing lists, there's a third kind of reply needed, a "followup" to continue the discussion. This usually should be sent to the mailing list address, and to people not on the mailing list but who want to receive followup responses. We can't use the mailing list address for this: that misses anyone who's not subscribed but wants followup messages. We can't use the Reply-To field in an existing message: that is specifically for *individual* responses to the person posting the message. This is completely wrong for followup messages intended for all interested parties. There *is* no header field recommended by the IETF that meets this need. We use Mail-Followup-To because it actually meets the need described above. -- \ "My interest is in the future, as I am going to spend the rest | `\ of my life there." -- Charles F. Kettering | _o__) | Ben Finney -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
