Hello Dave and All Rietveld Subscribers,
There are multiple schools of thought here, but as long as the users
are aware, either should work well. The 2 major ways that I have seen
for mailing lists to be setup are as follows:
Reply-To: goes to author, use forward to post to list
Reply-To: goes to list, use forward to send private reply to author
As you can see by examining the header lines in your message,
(included below) the choice made for the list rietveld@xtal.cmc.uab.edu
is the first option. There are certain merits to each approach, and I
would consider modifying the setup to the second option if it is
determined that a decided majority is in favor.
However, I am in favor of the current setup based on:
- It was the default choice in the software used. I trust the
authors of the software made a decision based on greater experience
than mine.
- The way I use lists in general, I am more likely to reply
directly to the author than to the list for privacy reasons.
Sometimes, it is to protect my privacy when offering a solution
off-the-cuff. Other times it is protect the privacy of the
original author when the post is off-the-cuff, for example a
question that is answered in "frequently asked questions" post.
- In the interests of efficient use of network bandwidth, I would
choose, by default, to send one message over hundreds.
By the way, this was sent using "forward" to your post.
-- Tim Buckner - system@orion.cmc.uab.edu - buckner@topaz.decus.org --
Univ. Alabama at Birmingham Center for Macromolecular Crystallography
261 BHSB, Birmingham, AL 35294-0005 USA phone/fax:(205)934-1973/-0480