Off topic (was Re: The way this (and other gnome lists) work)

[Chris Waters <xtifr dsp net>]

Guy Steven <rgs@etive.southern.co.nz> writes:

> It has suddenly occured to me why this is happening. Every other list I
> have been subscribed to has a reply-to header. 

Then those are (arguably) badly managed lists.  Actually, this is a
hotly debated topic, one that has been known to erupt in flamewars,
and I would like to beg that the debate go no further here.  Here,
courtesy of Rick Moen of the Silicon Valley Linux User's Group, is a
Reply-to FAQ:

   "This mailing list's software should auto-add a Reply-To header to
   all list posts, pointing back to the list."

  <sigh> First, read Chip Rosenthal's essay, Reply-To Munging
  Considered Harmful: http://www.unicom.com/pw/reply-to-harmful.html.
  Carefully.  Next, read the discussion/argument threads in the
  Reply-To Munging Harmful Forum:
  http://www.unicom.com/BBS/bbs_forum.cgi?forum=replyto.  All of them.
  Now, stop and think: Are you sure you've thought of some angle that
  hasn't already been discussed to death?  If so, far out: Enlighten
  us.  If not, please spare us yet another rehash.

One of the more obvious points is that setting the reply-to header in
the list wipes out any reply-to header that the author may have set.
This is a Bad Thing.
-- 
Chris Waters   xtifr@dsp.net | I have a truly elegant proof of the
      or    xtifr@debian.org | above, but it is too long to fit into
http://www.dsp.net/xtifr     | this .signature file.