Mellotronists

Does anyone know why this is the only yahoo group that I belong to that 
when replying it defaults to the originator's e-mail and not the group?
Pete

On Tue, 21 Mar 2006, pete wrote:

> Does anyone know why this is the only yahoo group that I belong to that
> when replying it defaults to the originator's e-mail and not the group?
> Pete



i am on a few dozen mailing lists [not all yahoo groups],
and this IS the only one that works this way.

moderator's choice.
this issue has been raised in the past.

IMHO it's rather annoying.

> From: pete <marabus@...>
   > Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2006 05:55:23 -0500
   > 
   > Does anyone know why this is the only yahoo group that I belong
   > to that when replying it defaults to the originator's e-mail and
   > not the group?

Because the list admin set this list up to follow email standards.

You should have two commands on your email program; one for replying
to the sender of a message, and one for replying to everyone included
in the message.

There is an email header called "Reply-to:", and it redirects replies,
usurping the regular operation of your email program.  The intended
use of the Reply-to: header is for the cases where the original poster
really wants to redirect replies, say, if you're sending out an
invitiation to a whole bunch of folks but you don't want any responses
blasting back to everybody.

Lots of email lists use the Reply-to: field to redirect all replies
back to the entire list, but in doing so they violate the purpose of
the Reply-to: header, they remove any original Reply-to: header, and
they change the function of the email program's reply button behind
the user's back.  So that's not good at all.

Some details can be found here:
  http://www.unicom.com/pw/reply-to-harmful.html

And in the official email spec, RFC-822:
  ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc822.txt

  -- Don

-- 
Don Tillman
Palo Alto, California
don@...
http://www.till.com

--- In Mellotronists@yahoogroups.com, Don Tillman <don@...> wrote:
>
>    > From: pete <marabus@...>
>    > Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2006 05:55:23 -0500
>    > 
>    > Does anyone know why this is the only yahoo group that I belong
>    > to that when replying it defaults to the originator's e-mail and
>    > not the group?
> 
> Because the list admin set this list up to follow email standards.
> 
> You should have two commands on your email program....

Don:
Sorry about the confusion... We are not talking about someone's email 
program.  We are talking about the Mellotronists Yahoo Group web 
page.  I do not have messages from the Mellotronists Group coming to 
my personal Inbox.  I use the Yahoo group web page to read and post 
messages.  When I hit the REPLY button, it replies to the sender not 
the group.  I can change it to Mellotronists@yahoogroups.com but 
that's a bit of a pain.  The strange thing is... Other Yahoo group web 
pages automatically reply to the group, not the sender.  That is what 
we are puzzled about.

Clay

> From: "ceccles_ca" <ecclesreinson@...>
   > Sender: Mellotronists@yahoogroups.com
   > 
   > Sorry about the confusion... We are not talking about someone's email 
   > program.  We are talking about the Mellotronists Yahoo Group web 
   > page.  

Ooooh, that's very different.  I have no idea.  The list is optimized
for regular email delivery and I have no control over how Yahoo their
web posting thing.  And it changes whenever Yahoo decides to do it
differently.

  -- Don

-- 
Don Tillman
Palo Alto, California
don@...
http://www.till.com

On Tue, 21 Mar 2006, ceccles_ca wrote:

> --- In Mellotronists@yahoogroups.com, Don Tillman <don@...> wrote:
> >
> >    > From: pete <marabus@...>
> >    > Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2006 05:55:23 -0500
> >    >
> >    > Does anyone know why this is the only yahoo group that I belong
> >    > to that when replying it defaults to the originator's e-mail and
> >    > not the group?
> >
> > Because the list admin set this list up to follow email standards.


i still disagree with that logic.

i use pine.
my choice is [r] and it asks "reply to all?"
in which case, if i said yes, the OP [original poster] would receive
two copies of the message [which happens to me a couple time a month
when someone fails to remove the OP address from their reply].
so i have to say yes, then copy the group address from the CC field
and paste it over the OP's address to avoid the duplication.

it's quite annoying.
less than one time out of one hundred do i want to reply ONLY to the
OP and not the list. so this is the exception BY FAR.
it's my right to disagree with the reasoning.

did i mention that it IS annoying?
it IS the only list i am on that behaves this way.

i suppose i could construct a procmail recipe that would swap the list
address on my end for this list. anyone here really good with REGEX?


so, Don: would you consider changing the function if there were a poll
of members and that a majority prefered replying to the list as the
default? just asking...


respectfully,
jeff



btw: top-posting is a REAL no-no, yet used quite frequently:

A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on usenet and in e-mail?

> From: jeffc@...
   > Sender: Mellotronists@yahoogroups.com
   > 
   > > Because the list admin set this list up to follow email
   > > standards.
   > 
   > i still disagree with that logic.
   > 
   > i use pine.  my choice is [r] and it asks "reply to all?"  in
   > which case, if i said yes, the OP [original poster] would receive
   > two copies of the message [which happens to me a couple time a
   > month

That's very traditional email behavior, and it's a feature in at least
two ways: it describes your intent really well -- you really do want
to send a reply "to" the original poster, and you really do want to
"cc" the list.  And the primary recipient gets an opportunity to see
your reply before the rest of the list.  

   > so, Don: would you consider changing the function if there were a
   > poll of members and that a majority prefered replying to the list
   > as the default? just asking...

Nope.  I'm a big fan of internet standards, I don't see any compelling
reasons to change the settings or violate the standards, and adding
the Reply-to: field introduces significant problems.

Hey, it's one of the luxuries of being a list manager.  :-)

Besides, there's always going to be someone whose preferences are
different, or someone using a weird mail program that works
differently.  Such is life.

  -- Don


-- 
Don Tillman
Palo Alto, California
don@...
http://www.till.com