Re: reply-to-all munging

Amin Azez wrote:

> When reading a mailing list reply-to-all is common behaviour

For some folks including me with a background in Usenet it's a
misbehaviour, they don't send and don't want "courtesy copies"
(if not explicitly solicited).  For some public lists with many
"hit and run" posters it can be different.

> (for me at least; I personally like it); so that if I am
> addressed personally I also get a copy in my inbox

Yes, a matter of taste.  Some lists also offer to filter mails
where a "courtesy copy" was apparently sent.  I never tested
this, I don't trust that mailing lists get such details right.

> Many mailing lists refrain from distributing to subscribers
> who are also mentioned in the To and Cc headers.

If you think it works...  but Re:All shouldn't go to the list
twice, unless the list software added "Reply-To: List" bogey.

In theory GMaNe could remove "Reply-To: List" header fields,
for lists where posting via GMaNe is at least possible.  The
last time we discussed it here the outcome was inconclusive.

> when reading from GMANE, reply-to-all includes the mailing
> list as well as the newsgroup.

Maybe your newsreader gets it wrong, it should offer Re:News
(=> to list via GMail), Re:Mail (=> mail to author, Reply-To
or without Reply-To to the From), and a combination of Re:Mail
and Re:News.

My stoneage ersatz-newsreader claims that Re:News + Re:Mail is
Re:All.  It's clear that you want more, not only the group and
the author, but also all addresses in the original CC:

> reply-to-all addresses this message to:
> Newsgroup: gmane.discuss
> and
> To: gmane-discuss <at> hawk.netfonds.no

See http://article.gmane.org/gmane.discuss/9853/raw for the
header of the original article, no bogus "Reply-To: List", but
a proper "List-post: <mailto:gmane-discuss <at> hawk.netfonds.no>".

Maybe GMaNe could remove this header field.  On the other hand
it's not clear why your newsreader tries to post to the group
AND to the List-post address.  Pure newsreaders wouldn't know
what a "List-post" header field is.

Your software is probably a combined newsreader and MUA, and it
is lost with its two different roles in this case.  It could
still work if the list silently ignores your dupe (they arrive
with the same Message-ID).

Apparently GMaNe (the main part behind the various lists, what
we see when we read articles) got this right and filtered your
dupe, a "same Message-ID and same group can't be okay" logic.

Frank