Re: [Evolution] Mailing list filters

[Ralf Mardorf <ralf mardorf rocketmail com>]

On Mon, 16 Mar 2015 13:32:23 +0000, David Woodhouse wrote:
> There, is that a reasonable summary?

No, because there are no clear rules and several solutions to handle
things, but without rules different MUAs, different mailing list
settings and different workflows from users, it's a mess. It's
impossible to write a reasonable summary.

However, cross-posting is impossible to handle, that's why it's frowned
upon.

Cc'ing on open mailing lists and developer's lists sometimes makes
sense.

1. Only Cc to those who needs to be Cc'ed, they likely have
filter settings to handle this.

2. Don't Cc to anybody else. Just because Evolution doesn't
invoke mailing list replies by "Reply", so that a smart automatically
handling using the Reply-To header can't be used to distinguish those
who want to be Cc'ed, from those who don't want it, doesn't mean that
it can't be done better.

Don't get me wrong, I prefer Evolutions style to invoke mailing list
replies by "Group Reply" over Claws style, but de facto the way Claws
does it could be an advantage. It's too funny that some open mailing
lists overwrite the Reply-To header, so that it isn't useful anymore for
that purpose.

On Mon, 16 Mar 2015 13:47:50 +0000, David Woodhouse wrote:
> Would you mind letting me know why you do it that way, rather than just
> putting them in the list folder where you so vehemently say you want
> them to be? I would like to accurately weigh up and represent the pros
> and cons for all kinds of recipients in my examples. I'm still fairly
> sure which side the balance will come down on, of course, but it's good
> to be accurate.

Yes, for most mailing lists I've got separated folders, but not for all
lists.

I wasn't precise. All mails without mailing list headers get a label,
so I can distinguish off-list replies and private mails easily, what
ever filtering I use.

You also should consider that not everybody does use Evolution.
Evolution does invoke a mailing list reply by the "Group Reply".
Claws does invoke it by "Reply", so at least for Claws I also need the
label to notice that I have to push "Group Reply" (All) instead of
invoking a mailing list reply.

As long as there are no clear rules for mailing lists, we need to find
the least common denominator.

Even on most open mailing lists the policy is to reply to the list
only. A user is free to request to be Cc'ed, but the others are free to
ignore this wish, since there are still the open list's archives.
There's no need to be subscribed and to receive mails by being Cc'ed.

You should join a non-technical mailing list for e.g. a political
party, were many people are subscribed who don't have a clue about
emails, then you'll become aware why the least common denominator on
mailing lists is important. Those people break with all common sense
regarding everything that is useful for mailing lists, so
correspondences become completely unreadable.

2 Cents