Re: [pvusers] List "REPLY TO" not set right

[Michael Welch <michael.welch@homepower.com>]

Actually, the change has not been made. Apparently, it cannot be made by me as a remote administrator. Unless I am mistaken, it has to be done via Unix access to the listserver files.

I agree with Speireag on this--but only to a point. Folks are so used to lists being Reply to List that they are forgetting to change the To: address, and sending their comments only to one person. This only serves to stifle conversation, and prematurely end good threads.

I have not asked the SolarHost unix nerds to change this for us (yet) because I want to democratically do what most of the list wants to do. 

What say ye?

Speireag Alden wrote at 11:56 PM 05/02/2002 -0400:
  
>>Everytime users hit the reply button from the list, the message is sent to the original poster, not to the list.  This is problematic in that most folks when they hit reply intend it their response to be posted for everyone's benefit, not just the posters.  It's also a hassle because even knowing that is the case, I have to go and manually insert the List post address when I want to reply to a comment.
>>
>>Could we get this fixed?
>
>Jeff and everyone -
>
>    I know that you mean well, but this is a feature, not a bug. Over the years, I've participated in many lists, some of which had reply-to-list set as default, and some of which had reply-to-sender set as default.  I much prefer reply-to-sender.
>
>    Why?  Signal-to-noise ratio.  When the default is to reply to the list, people send their "me, too!" messages to the list, with the entire previous discussion quoted in the message body.  People send personal reactions to the list when they meant to send them privately.  The list gets "chatty".  It becomes more like a bunch of people sitting around shooting their mouths off, and less like a meeting or convention where people have come to discuss a single topic.  Occasionally, I have seen a list switch from one to the other, always with the best intentions.  The quality invariably goes down when the default changes to reply-to-list.
>
>    So, for social lists, perhaps reply-to-list is best.  But for topical lists, I have found that reply-to-sender is far superior.  It *should* take a small amount of extra effort to send that message to all the list subscribers.  If you have something worth saying, then use your e-mail program's option, whatever it is, or cut and paste, or use an alias, and say it to the list.  Otherwise, just reply to the individual.
>
>    It looks as though the change has already been made.  If so, I hope that it works out better than it has on other lists.

  
Michael Welch
  
------------------------
"War is just a racket ... I spent most of my time being a high class muscle-man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism." 
			Major General Smedley Butler, USMC
        
Michael Welch, michael.welch@homepower.com www.homepower.com
     Managing Editor, Home Power magazine
     Office Coordinator, Redwood Alliance
     (Not HP mag numbers) 707-822-7884 fax: 707-822-3481


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