[OSM-talk] mailing list behavior

[Stephen Hope]

2008/9/2 Sascha Silbe <sascha-ml-gis-osm-talk at silbe.org>:
> There's no way OSM could change that default, it's up to your MUA vendor.
> The buttons you're currently using are "reply" (with an implied "to author")
> and "reply to all", not "reply (default)" and "reply (alternative)".
> The only thing OSM can do is to trick your MUA into believing the "reply to
> author" function should reply to the list instead. And note the last word I
> used: _instead_. It doesn't work as expected anymore, rendering the expected
> function unavailable.

But this is where the problem is.  You did not send me this email, the list did.

Reply does not imply "send to author" it implies "send to who sent me
the message".  If I forward an email to someone, a reply comes to me,
not the original author. If the list forwards an email to someone, the
expectation is therefore created that a reply would go back to the
list. The fact that lists work differently in the background is not
obvious.

An OSM thread is supposed to be creating a group conversation.
Setting it up so the default way of replying breaks threads away from
the list into private conversations might work well for a advertising
list, but is strange for a list of this type.