Ethereal-users: [Ethereal-users] Re: [Ethereal-dev] RFD: Set Reply-To to list if not already set

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From: Gerald Combs <gerald@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2004 14:06:31 -0600
Joerg Mayer wrote:

Just a thing that has been annoying me for a while now: In many cases,
I receive two answers, when I post to this list: One to the list and one
to me personally. In order to avoid that, I need to set the reply-to to
the list address.
In most cases a reply to the list would be the preferred behaviour anyway,
so would it
a) be doable with the current mailman software to change an empty (aka
   non existent) reply-to to the list address
b) preferrable to most list members?
That way, whenever they really want a personal reply in addition to the
list reply, they can set the reply-to header.

The MailMan documentation provides links arguing for and against this behavior:

    http://www.metasystema.org/essays/reply-to-useful.mhtml (for)
    http://www.unicom.com/pw/reply-to-harmful.html (against)

As Guy pointed out, we run the risk of someone not subscribed not getting a reply. We also run the risk of a reply that was meant to be private being broadcasted to the list instead. In spite of this, I think it makes sense to change the "Reply-To:" header. We already rewrite the subject line to indicate that the message came from the list. Changing the "Reply-To:" header would be consistent with that.

Unless there are strong objections within the next 24 hours I'll make the change on ethereal-dev, -users, and -doc.