on Tue, Mar 20, 2001 at 11:53:13PM -0700, Jimmy Richards ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote: > Hi All, > > > There is something I have been confused/wondering about for some > time. I thought I once saw someone say in their reply that they > didn't need to Cc: to debian-user@lists.debian.org when replying > to a message because they are already signed up on the mailing > list. It looks like I am seeing two messages from some people who > have replied to a question from someone.
Typical practice is to reply to list mail on-list. Sending mail to the
orignal sender only clearly won't send mail to list. However, sending
mail to both the sender and list generally means the sender gets two
copies of mail. I generally *don't* CC: sender unless it's specifically
requested (generally by people who aren't subscribed to the list).
> Which to me means that they replied to the the person asking the
> question, and Cc:'d to debian-users lists, resulting in me(and
> everyone on the mailing list I imagine) receiving two replys that
> are exactly the same. One of of them being an unessary duplicate
> because of the Cc:.
A good mail client (mutt) has three "reply to" functions:
- Reply to sender. Generates a response *only* to the person who
originated a message.
- Reply to group (or all): Generates a response to *each* addressee
of the original message.
- Reply to list: Generates a response *only* to the _mailing list_
the original message was posted to.
My own very strong preference is that list mail be responded to on list
and that I *not* be CC'd. Taking list mail private in followup requests
for assistance borders on rude. If I'm feeling generous, I may respond
to list. If I'm not, I'll instruct the person that I don't respond to
off-list mail regarding list topic. Or I'll simply delete the mail. My
incoming load is about 500 messages daily. I prefer to keep it
streamlined. And I'm not infrequently wrong about things. Allowances
in all cases granted to friends and special-case topics, but it had
better be well wide of list material.
> I have been Cc my replies to the debian-user list lately because I
> thought maybe my responses were only going to the person I was
> replying to.
Easy tip: check the addressing of the email you're sending. This is a
very good idea in any event. Mailing the wrong thing to the wrong
person can range anywhere from annoying to severly embarassing or worse.
At the risk (no, certainty) of repeating myself: send list mail to list.
> But I don't know. Do I need to put in the Cc:
> debian-user@lists.debian.org if I want to make sure it goes out to
> everyone? Or is this automatic because I am signed up on the mail
> list.
Oh, one more thing: Paragraphs are good. Whitespace is amazingly cheap
for the information value conveyed.
--
Karsten M. Self <kmself@ix.netcom.com> http://kmself.home.netcom.com/
What part of "Gestalt" don't you understand? There is no K5 cabal
http://gestalt-system.sourceforge.net/ http://www.kuro5hin.org
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