[MLB-WIRELESS] Fw: Delivery Status Notification (Failure) ( anyone else get this? )

[Craig Sanders]

On Tue, Jan 14, 2003 at 11:13:13AM +1100, paul van den bergen wrote:
> FWIW, I can't say I agree with this... solve the "problem" at the
> simplest point... which in this case would be the mail list server.
> not teh mail software.  

yes, simplest solutions are usually best - but only IF they are actually
solutions.

munging reply-to is NOT a solution to anything.  it breaks a lot more
than it allegedly "fixes".

the lame rebuttals to http://www.unicom.com/pw/reply-to-harmful.html all
conveniently ignore one crucial point because they have no answer for it
- munging reply-to destroys any reply-to header that the original author
may have set.

> lazy? lazy is good.

only when it's smart laziness, not stupid laziness.


> personally I would prefer the mail list to set reply to to the list.  but 
> since they haven't I filter my mail to do so...  still causes problems
> though if I forward mail elsewhere.  still most of my discussions stay
> on-list...
> 
> I know we have had this debate adnausium, but since it is still a
> problem...
> 
> who actually doesn't want replyto set back to the list and why?  

apart from the several reasons listed in reply-to-harmful.html, it also
has a tendedncy to cause mailing-list loops when subscribers are on a
broken (almost always NT-based) mail server.

i've run many hundreds of mailing lists over the years.  i'm currently
responsible for over 250 of them.  the single most common cause of
mailing-list loops is the combination of Reply-To header munging and a
subscriber on a broken NT mail server.  the way to prevent that is to
ban Reply-To munging and then hack the list software so that Reply-To
munging is not possible.  i did that years ago on my list servers and it
*instantly* solved the problem of mailing list loops...haven't had any
since.

if you think that the occasional duplicate CC is annoying, wait until
you get a list loop, where the same messages go around again and again
and again until the list operator unsubs the problem address.  as do the
messages of everyone who complains or comments about the loop ON the
list itself.  a list loop can easily result in even a low-traffic
10-or-20 message per day list jumping up to several dozen or several
hundred messages per hour.


> I can;t think of a reason good enough to put up with the inconveiniece
> to members to warrent it... 

your inability to think of a reason is not proof that there are no good
reasons, rather it is is an indication of your lack of experience.

that is fairly common.  generally the people who are in favour of
Reply-To munging are those who have no experience running mailing lists
and who therefore are unable to think of good reasons.

craig

-- 
craig sanders <cas at taz.net.au>

Fabricati Diem, PVNC.
 -- motto of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch

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