Re: Reply To

[Leslie Mikesell <les @ Mcs . Net>]

> LM> The issue is whether it is submitting on behalf of the list or the
> LM> author.  I don't see how this can be dictated by anyone but the list
> LM> manager.
> 
> Regardless of who Majordomo is submitting the message for, it is not
> submitting it for itself.  To wit, Majordomo is *NOT* composing this
> message, I am.  I am handing it off to Majordomo for delivery to the
> mailing list at large.  I am this message's originator, and my mailbox is
> up there in the originator header.  You do not see any Majordomo mailboxes
> up there in the From header, do you?
> 
> Of course, if Majordomo *IS* the originator of this message then it's
> mailbox should be in the From header, not mine.  But that leaves the
> question, "where am I?" in all of this.
> 
> Think about that for a bit.

I did think about it before my previous posting but you deleted the
part that disagreed with your opinion.  In my opinion, a list manager
has the right to create a moderated list and insert editorial comments
before forwarding on to the destination addresses.  In this case the
message is clearly not the original author's submission and the headers
can/should be modified.  It is also my opinion that such a moderator
is not obligated to make comments in any particular message before
sending it on to the list he controls, and in fact can let an automatic
agent do it on his behalf. It still is submitted to the list in the
form he wants to submit it and he is thus responsible for the content
that he could have modified but didn't.

And to reverse your argument, if majordomo (as an agent of the list
manager) isn't the reason I have this message, what is it?  You
wouldn't have sent something to me were it not for the list so why
shouldn't my reply be guided back the same way?  However, this is
silly semantics - the real issue is where a 'normal' reply should
go and I believe this depends on the nature of the list and the
intent of it's manager.  If it takes a modification of the message
body and message ID to convince purists that a modification to the
header is legal, so be it.  Consider it a digest form where the
digest is composed on every single message.  There are lists that
work this way, and from an end user viewpoint I prefer them at
least for technical topics where you are unlikely to send something
personal to the list by mistake.  The question is, how do those
lists avoid problems with mail loops caused by forwarding through
transports that only understand a single return address?

Les Mikesell
  les@mcs.com