Thread and Reply to List Breakage

[blu at vl.com (Tom Metro)]

Jeff Kinz wrote:
> I recently got the chunk of the e-mails from this list where people were
> replying to an individual and carbon copying the list as part of an
> ongoing discussion thread in the list.
> 
> This has two unintended side effects:
> 
> The first is that it cause the e-mail to be delivered without the
> List-ID or the X-List field causing the email to be sorted into the wrong
> folder.

Really? Assuming you weren't one of the directly addressed recipients, 
the message should have still traveled through the BLU list processor 
and had those fields added. If it didn't, it is either a bug or 
configuration option that should probably be changed.


> Since it is not being mailed to the user from the mailing list,
> there is no way to guarantee that it gets into the right folder...

The only way to reliably sort mail is to use the envelope addresses, not 
the headers, any of which may change. The best option is to use a unique 
recipient address for each list, which is pretty easy to do if your MTA 
or mail provider (such as Gmail) supports address extensions. Then you 
just subscribe using an address like user+list at example.com. If you are 
sorting in a mail client, you'll still need to depend on the headers, 
but it will be a reliable header always added by your MTA. Typically 
"Delivered-To:".


> Please don't reply to individuals when participating in list threads...

This seems only coincidentally related to the problem you observed.

The practice dates back to early days on Usenet and is based on the 
assumption that the person being replied to may not be a subscriber. 
These days the concept is a bit obsolete as most lists require (as a way 
to thwart spam) that anyone posting to the list be a subscriber.


> [Replying to the list is] a single keystroke command for me, "L".  I
> don't know why your email client makes it any harder than that.

It does seem odd that Thunderbird doesn't support this functionality. I 
did find this extension:

Display mailing list header
https://addons.mozilla.org/thunderbird/576/

which parses the RFC2369 list headers and adds a row of links at the 
bottom of the headers (see screen shot:
https://addons.mozilla.org/thunderbird/576/previews/  )

It has a "Post" link, but I don't see a reply to list option. I'll have 
to give it a try.

  -Tom

-- 
Tom Metro
Venture Logic, Newton, MA, USA
"Enterprise solutions through open source."
Professional Profile: http://tmetro.venturelogic.com/

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