Reply-To vs. List-Post

[Lynn David Newton]

  df> I had no part in setting up this list, but I know
  df> that many lists are configured this way to
  df> encourage more traffic on the list. My thinking
  df> has always been just the opposite. ...

If we're taking a poll here, I'm 100% with Dale on
this. I believe now and have always believed that
setting Reply-To to return to a whole list is
intrinsically *EVIL* because:

(1) it makes possibly (probably) invalid assumptions
    about where I as the sender wish or ought to send
    my email;

(2) it's an annoying hassle to cut and paste the
    original sender's email address and substitute it
    in the To: line when what I really want to do is to
    reply only to the originator;

(3) most email is *not* set up that way, so users are
    inclined to assume it's business as usual, even
    when they know it isn't, but tend to forget or not
    check the To header before pulling the trigger;

(3) making a mistake has *great* potential for
    embarrassing mistakes.

There are appropriate times for Reply-To headers. I
sometimes will use one when I fire off a non-business
message to someone while at work but want that person
to reply to me at my Cox address so I can defer reading
it until I'm on my own time at home. I'm sure there are
other scenarios as well, but to force a reply-to policy
on a whole list is to assume its subscribers are too
stupid to know when it is and is not appropriate to
reply to the list. I don't think that's the case on
this list. (Well ... not usually.)

-- 
Lynn David Newton
MontaVista Software, Inc.
2141 E. Broadway Road, Suite 108
Tempe, AZ 85282
Phone: 480-517-5047
Email: lnewton at mvista.com