Re: [Evolution] Reply for list messages should go back to the list

[Patrick O'Callaghan <poc usb ve>]

On Tue, 2010-07-13 at 11:13 +0100, David Woodhouse wrote:
> On Mon, 2010-07-12 at 10:14 -0430, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
> > Note: this is a comment on Evo itself, rather than the Evo list.
> >
> > As someone who posts quite a lot on this list, I'm forever having to
> > deal with people replying to my personal address rather than the list
> > address. Of course they should be using Reply To List (Ctrl-L) or even
> > Reply-To-All (Shift-Ctrl-R) but occasionally they forget and use just
> > Reply (Ctrl-R) so one has to remind them. I'm sure other frequent
> > contributors find the same thing.
> >
> > An obvious solution to this is to do what Kmail does. When the message
> > being replied to contains a List-Post header, Ctrl-R should do the same
> > as Ctrl-L. There should also be a Reply-To-Author command for the rare
> > case when the reply should be directed to the message Reply-To field,
> > presumably the author's personal address.
> >
> > This would work on lists, including this one, which follow RFC-2822 and
> > don't do "Reply-To munging". For those that do munge the Reply-To field,
> > a reply to the author would require some editing, but that's already the
> > case with these lists so nothing is lost.
>
> That's just munging in a different place. As it is, I have the *choice*:
>
>  - I can hit Ctrl-R to reply to you alone.
>  - I can hit Ctrl-Shift-R to reply to you and the list.
>  - I can hit Ctrl-L to reply to the list.
>
> Just like the people who advocate using a Reply-To: header, you're
> trying to take away my choices and make one or more of those keystrokes
> actually do something _other_ than what I wanted.

Well, no. I'm advocating:

 - Reply To Author to reply to you alone.
 - Reply To All to CC the author and reply to the list (the reverse of
the current situation).
 - Ctrl-L to disappear, and Ctrl-R to change to reflect that it's Reply
To List.

> > (Those who follow the Fedora Users list will know there's been a long
> > thread about munging, which that list does do.)
> >
> > poc
> >
> > PS If you reply to this, please make sure it goes to the list unless you
> > *really* want to say something to me personally :-)
>
> If you reply to this, please make sure you don't drop me from Cc. I may
> only look at the list sporadically (or indeed never; I may not even be
> subscribed -- someone may have redirected your mail to me because they
> knew I'd be interested). It'd be very rude not to Cc me in your reply.

Since you request it, that's what I did. Most people don't do that,
which is why I usually use Reply To List. Under my proposed scheme,
exactly the same would apply.

> That's why I almost never use the Ctrl-L option on mailing lists, unless
> I notice that someone asked for it. In the general case, it's much
> easier for someone to deal with having two copies, than it is for them
> to deal with having *none*.

That's more a comment on list netiquette than the mechanics of how the
MUA works. I can't recall anyone ever asking explicitly for Ctrl-L
(except in the course of discussions about how to reply to lists) but
perhaps your experience is different. In any case, you can continue to
use Shift-Ctrl-R with the effect you desire.

Note that what I'm proposing isn't original. Kmail already works this
way. In fact I got the idea when I read
http://woozle.org/~neale/papers/reply-to-still-harmful.html 

poc