On 16.01.2014 13:01, Hartmut Steffin wrote:
On 16.01.2014 21:22, Kaz Kylheku wrote:
I used "Reply All" and it did not have the proper behavior expected of "Reply All". The Reply-To header is irrelevant since it is not present; it is not the cause of the breakage.
Sorry, I obviously missed this part. I read so many stupid things in the other posts. No excuse, just telling.
Okay, I never had a mailing list that does NOT set the Reply-To header.
GNU Mailman, fairly popular mailing list manager, defaults to turning this behavior off, and that default is documented as being recommended. This was mentioned elsewhere in the thread, too.
But this would not really work at all! Where is the address of the list?
The address of the list is one of the parties which is "in the loop" of the message. It gets Cc's when you do "Reply All", whether you do "Reply All" to a re-mailed message that you received from the list, or whether you do "Reply All" to a direct message from someone replying to your list posting via their "Reply All".
So if this is right what you are telling, you talk about a kind of list that does not really work with any client I know of.
It works with every client, all the way down to Mutt or what have you.
And I would not even know how to program it. Will you tell us?
No, because programming a mailing list manager is a large topic, obviously.
Tell us how we can address the mailing list, if its address is nowhere to be found. (A field name listed in the RFC! It MUST be either From, or Reply-to.)
In a fresh posting, the mailing list is in the "To:". Otherwise, the mailing list is in the "Cc:" header.
Example: you start a thread in foo-list@example.com by sending to that address. The robot mails it to Bob. Bob now has a message From: you, and the mailing list has put itself into the Cc: list. (That is the proper way by which a mailing list requests a copy of the reply, not Reply-To).
Bob hits "Reply All". Now his message is composed "To: you", and the "Cc: foo-list@example.com" is preserved thanks to Reply All. He sends the message.
You get the message directly. The mailing list manager also gets it, and notices that the To: person is a subscriber of the list. It wonders: should we send another copy to this person? It peers into your user settings and sees, no, you don't like to receive list copies of messages for which you're already a recipient. So it avoids sending you another copy. Or perhaps your preference is otherwise, so you do get the list copy.
Suppose you reply to the direct copy. You hit Reply All, and you're composing To: Bob. The mailing list is in the Cc: line.
Anyone who uses Reply does not get a Cc: line with the mailing list; which is exactly what is wanted: a private reply unseen by the mailing list subscribers or any other party that is "in the loop".