Re: php-general as REPLY TO

On 30 Jun 2003 at 21:23, Derick Rethans wrote: > > I'm wondering why the listed "Reply To" address is not > > "php-general@lists.php.net" > > Thing would be so much easier to just reply than cut-n-paste when > > reply to the entire list on a subject (which is the norm). > > That's an evil thing, and misusing e-mail. E-mail clients have the > "reply-all" function for this. I disagree with you Derick. In many (most? all?) programs, the reply- all function will send an email back to the list **and** one to the author. This wastes bandwidth needlessly, in my opinion. I receive the messages to the list and do not need to receive a message sent directly to me. I am the owner and one of four admins of a mailing list, and we have set the default such that the reply is to the list. I have always thought that any other default setting is antithetical to the idea of a mailing list. A mailing list is a vehicle where conversations about the particular topic are shared with everyone on the list, even those who are not actively engaged in that particular thread of conversation. To set the default reply to go to the author of a particular post is to have the default to break the public nature of the conversation and shift it to a private conversation. Of course, this default can be overridden by an action of the replier. But if the default model is public conversation, why should the default be private reply? Doug