[pmmail-list] Outward filter needed

[L.Willms]

On Tue, 27 Aug 2002 13:12:55 -0700, Tim Roberts wrote:

  On the subject of replying to messages on a mailing list which doesn't 
supply a reply-to header: 

> >and the main one is the "To:" header which is the name of the 
> >mailing list, if it is not on the "CC:" list. 
> 
> Not necessarily.  The "To:" address is often just a fake, like "Recipient 
> list suppressed".

   We are talking here about mailing lists where every recipient is supposed 
to write to the whole list, not pure distribution lists, where only the list 
owner is supposed to write to the collection of addresses in his address book, 
but does not want others to use the same collection (typically a company 
sending out press releases or sales talk to a list of customers, prospects, or 
even suspects). 

   In the case we are talking about, what the starter of this thread (Richard 
Grevers) meant, i.e. mailing lists, the address of the mailing list is 
somewhere in the recipient list, either as "To:" or "CC:" recipient. 

> 
> >Your would certainly never want to send a message to the "sender" which is 
> >probably some automatic agent.
> 
> That's just not true.  The Sender: header is supposed to indicate the valid 
> mailbox of the person/bot that actually transmitted the message.

   Sure, but that is normally not a person, but a program, e.g. "majordomo" or 
some other mailing list processor. Or the "mailing-list-owner", but not the 
address of the mailing list which is exploded in the many subscribers to the 
list. 

  So a "Reply-to-all" will certainly catch the actual address of the mailing 
list. 

> "Sender" is indeed a valid RFC-2822 header.  In fact, its use is encouraged 
> if the person who SENT the message is different from the person who WROTE 
the 
> message.

  You are right. BTW, the current version is RFC 2822 (add 2000 to the number 
of the original RFC number). 

  Anyway, for what Richard Grevers wanted, the best solution is an incoming 
filter which, after finding out the actual mailing list, adds the "Reply-to:" 
header to the incoming message, which the maintainers of the mailing list 
omitted from the message. 

Yours, 
Lüko Willms
-----------------------------------------------
Frankfurt/Main  

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