Re: Fuck it!

From: Anatoly Vorobey (mellon_at_pobox.com)
Date: Tue 03 Nov 1998 - 00:22:08 IST


You, Michael N. Livshin, were spotted writing this on Mon, Nov 02, 1998 at 10:57:32PM +0200:
> >
> > This isn't universally true. Mailing lists aren't Usenet, therefore
> > "following up" isn't defined as an operation uniquely distinct
> > from "replying". It's all email, anyway.
>
> This is what my friendly Gnus manual has to say on the subject:

Gnus', that bloated heap of Lisp code that feels sorry it's ever been
written, and which furthermore commits the heresy of attempting to unite
mailings lists and newsgroups? I wouldn't treat it as... hmm... a
*particularly* good source to quote on net.standards.

> <quoth source="Gnus">
> `broken-reply-to'
> Elements like `(broken-reply-to . t)' signal that `Reply-To'
> headers in this group are to be ignored. This can be useful if
> you're reading a mailing list group where the listserv has inserted
> `Reply-To' headers that point back to the listserv itself. This is
> broken behavior. So there!

Gnus' is wrong ('mailing list group', heh).

The convenience of having Reply-To: point back to the listserv address
is mentioned in RFC822. The choice between RFC822 and Gnus documentation
author in matters of standartization seems to be an easy one.

> But I agree that for a list with 35 subscribers it's not very
> important. I thought the list is bigger. Silly me. What a relief.

The list is about as big as the Russian rock scene in Israel, and roughly
corresponds to it in quality.

> > It isn't brain damage, it's a feature controllable in majordomo.
>
> You are _not_ completely serious, now are you? ;)

I'm completely half-serious.

> For technical lists, there certainly _is_ a concensus.

This is due to several reasons; for one thing, it's usual on such
lists to Cc: all the participants in addition to the list anyway;
also, people are fed up with stupid admins who can't figure out
how to use Reply-To: to point to the list *and* prevent bounces
and errors from going to the list - and so usually prescribe simply
to avoid touching Reply-To:.

Technical lists, on the other hand, have no special privilege to
net.truth, even though their inhabitants often think otherwise.

> > (Bad mailers, on the other hand, have little icons instead of keys).
>
> Well, I really hope that we won't get 35 people proudly listing their
> favorite mailers here because of this patronizing comment of yours.

Gosh, I hope not.

> No shit,
> mike.

Sincerely,
Anatoly.

-- 
Anatoly Vorobey,
mellon@pobox.com http://pobox.com/~mellon/
"Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly" - G.K.Chesterton

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