Re: Reply-To

[Richard Pieri <ratinox @ unilab . dfci . harvard . edu>]

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>>>>> "SG" == Stephen Graham <graham@ee.washington.edu> writes:

SG> Sorry, I disagree with you. My reading of RFC 822 supports the
SG> assignment of Reply-To by Majordomo.

And I disagree, for the simple reason that I am the originator of this
message that you are reading, not Majordomo.  If Mj is the originator of
this message then it's mailbox should be in the From header, not mine,
and no Sender header should be generated.

I would rather not say "you are wrong", but you are wrong.  Mj is not
the originator of mail messages sent to mailing lists it manages.  The
originator is the message's source, its composer:

     source      = [  trace ]                    ; net traversals
                      originator                 ; original mail
                   [  resent ]                   ; forwarded
[...]
     originator  =   authentic                   ; authenticated addr
                   [ "Reply-To"   ":" 1#address] ) 

and RFC-822 is specific in stating that Reply-To is an originator field:

        Note:  The "Reply-To" field is added  by  the  originator  and
               serves  to  direct  replies,  whereas the "Return-Path"
               field is used to identify a path back to  the  origina-
               tor.

Since Majordomo is never the originator of of messages sent to mailing
lists it manages it should likewise never add or modify originator
headers such as Reply-To and From.

SG> This is also standard convention, followed by all mailing-list
SG> software that I'm aware of.

The "standard convention" exists to deal with broken MUAs which cannot
distinguish between "reply to originator" and "reply to list".  It is a
bastard hack that should never have been.

Check out the A.2 section of RFC-822 for more information about
originator items and how various originator-related headers are to be
used.

SG> Essentially, I don't see why you're so very concerned about
SG> this. Humans still have ultimate control over who their e-mail goes
SG> to, regardless of the setting of Reply-To.

Because I have seen some really nasty mail loops caused by mailing lists
improperly setting headers they should not and broken software which
does not correctly deal with redirection headers.

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-- 
Richard Pieri/Information Services \ Always give generously - a small bird or
<ratinox@unilab.dfci.harvard.edu>   \ rodent left on the bed tells them, "I
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