[ale] ALE reply-to changes needed??

James Sumners james at sumners.ath.cx
Sat Apr 12 20:30:18 EDT 2003


Here is your (un)requested flame-like email:



On 12 Apr 2003 20:09:31 -0400
"James P. Kinney III" <jkinney at localnetsolutions.com> wrote:

> I want the simple choice of directly replying to the original poster
> with the content of the original post intact. The original post did not
> come from ALE. It came from an individual. 

Seems to me that the whole point of signing up for a mailing list is to
participate in a community. If everyone just sends private mails by default then
the community looses out on any relevant information that might have been sent
in response to the original post.

> ...My Linux
> system is SUPPOSED to make my life easier by letting me get things done
> quicker.

Really? Where is that rule? Yes, it is possible to configure things much more
than other operating systems which has the added benefit of making it possible
to do things quicker. But, that does not inherently mean the operating system
itself is written for that express purpose.

> Since the list was migrated to the new server, the archives have been
> storing the flotsam and jetsam sent to the entire list that used to be
> taken offline immediately by using the reply instead of the reply-all.

Do I need to restate the community point?

> Then there is the simple logic of the situation. I am supposed to have
> two choices of reply. Choice one, reply to the person in the From field;
> choice two, reply to the group as a whole. But as it stands right now, I
> don't. Since both reply types have the same effect, it is broken.

I fully understand this point but it doesn't make sense to me in this
situation. It is a little reminiscent of someone dropping by an IRC channel,
asking a question, and then resolving an issue with private messages without
indicating that the question is being answered. If the rest of us have no idea
that a person is getting help then some may be wasting their time responding to
the original post that was sent to a public list for a public response.

> Fix it.
> 
> I guess the crowd that LIKES it broken is more accustomed to using
> broken software than I am. Hmmm. I wonder what they are using for a mail
> client?
> 

Certainly not Evolution.


Having said all of that, I couldn't really care less which option is chosen in
the end. I happen to like the current setup because I have this strange
fascination of pressing the 'reply' button when I want to reply to an email. It
just doesn't cross my mind that there even is a 'reply all' button. I assume
that I fall into a fairly large category of "lame" users who do such a thing.


-- 

All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological
personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the
corruptible. Such people have a tendency to become drunk on violence, a
condition to which they are quickly addicted. 

Missionara Protectiva, Text QIV (decto)
CH:D 59
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