Another reason why we sometimes HAVE to reply to the list

[Alex Rudd]

On Fri, 7 Apr 1995 06:37:42 EST George Fowler said:
>Alex Rudd posted a very reasoned exposition to the list as to why it is
>preferable to reply directly to individuals rather than wasting all that
>bandwidth by replying to the list. I agree, BUT there's one strong reason why

To clarify, I meant to state that it is *sometimes* preferable.  This
is a discussion list.  If it were always preferable to reply directly
to individuals rather than the list, then I'd set up the list header
like so:

* Reply-to= Sender,Ignore

and replies would *always* be directed back to the original sender,
regardless.  Replying to individuals simply makes sense in certain
situations.

>I, and I presume many others as well, am sometimes OBLIGED to reply to the
>list. I get the list without headers pertaining to the original posting. Many
>times the poster does not identify his/her email address within the body of the
>posting (no signature appended either, alas). If I do not know the individual,
>I have no means of replying directly, and if I am so moved, or have something
>useful to say, the only means of replying is directly to the list.
>     I have complained about this before. Everyone should make SURE to include
>his/her email address at the bottom of any posting!

Including a "signature" at the bottom of one's posts is also convention,
and good netiquette.  (A .signature should not exceed 4 lines, by the
way.)  However, for those in George Fowler's situation, using machines
which routinely strip out important identifying information, LISTSERV
*can* help.  If, when you receive mail from the list, you can't tell
who the original sender is, you should do the following:

Send e-mail to:

LISTSERV at CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU

Leave the Subject line blank (or put anything in it; LISTSERV ignores
it anyway) and in the main body of the text put the single line:

SET SEELANGS DUALHDR

and send the mail.  That command instructs LISTSERV to insert into
each post it sends you a second, artificial, header.  That second
header will include all the info your own program strips out,
including the name and e-mail address of the original sender.

That option has been available since version 1.7f of LISTSERV
(which was released and running on CUNYVM in January of 1993)
so I'm sorry if people haven't known about it.  I'm somewhat
surprised, George, that you haven't been using it, though.  You
and I had an exchange on the list about it last November 5th
and I explained it at that time.

(By the way, that same procedure will work on any Revised LISTSERV
list.)

Since I know this problem affects everyone subscribed from Indiana,
I'll make the change for them (well, except for the one subscriber
from there whose header is already set to DUALHDR).

>     There's also the question of judgment. Consider the recent posting on
>consonant clusters (sequences) in Russian. I actually replied directly to the
>original poster (who gave an email address in the original posting! Molodets!),
>but I enjoyed reading all the other suggestions. This strikes me as a
>reasonable case.

Absolutely..... We all recognize that this is a discussion list.

>     Apropos of short headers, I have done nothing to configure it that way; it
>simply happened. This must be characteristic of other subscribers as well; I
>know some people get a screenful of headers, as I have seen them when messages
>have been forwarded to me.

It's the mail system at Indiana.  You'd have to talk with the mail
folks there to find out why they have it configured that way.

If anyone has any questions or concerns, just let me know.

Thanks.

- Alex, list owner of SEELANGS
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