On Thu, 28 Nov 2002, Thomas Yan wrote:
#First, a suggestion. When you intentionally send a private reply,
#please try to say so, so the recipient doesn't have to query you to
#check if you meant it to be private rather than public.
I normally begin such messages with "(Off-list.)" for just that reason,
or to reassure the recipient that a message is private that they might
prefer to remain so.
#1. Have you accidentally sent a private reply instead of posting to
# the list?
Yes.
#1'. Have you accidentally posted to the list instead of sending a
# private reply?
I don't think so, on this list.
#2. Have you received an accidental private reply that was meant to go
# to the list?
Yes.
#3. When you get a message that was sent to you instead of the list, do
# you feel obliged to query the sender to ask him or her if it was
# meant to private instead of to the list?
Often I don't even notice, or I see very soon that the sender has
noticed their slip and re-sent to the list.
#4. Has the Reply-To behavior of this list caused you confusion when
# posting to other mailing lists, perhaps even causing you to
# accidentally send a private e-mail instead of posting or vice
# versa?
Possibly. But most lists I'm on are intended as *discussion* lists and
are therefore set up to facilitate discussion, with a default that
replies go to the entire list. Some lists implement this by having the
message come "From:" the list and including a line identifying the
sender and timestamp; others by a "Reply-to: [list address]" header.
#5. How do you feel about the Reply-To behavior of this list?
# Do you
+ dislike it
-- Mark A. Mandel
http://world.std.com/~mam/Cracks-and-Shards/
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