On Tue, Apr 28, 2009 at 12:59:53PM +1000, Ben Finney wrote: > The appropriate fields *are* set: the mailing list sets the RFC 2369 > fields for replies to the list, and the author sets the From and > (optionally) the Reply-To fields for replies to the sender.
The appropriate fields are set, I never said they were not. Unfortunately, the problem is bigger than this: * It requires a MUA that understands these fields. * It requires a user to change their software interaction habits. Both of these requirements have proven, empirically, very difficult. > Is this so hard, people? We have large brains evolved in part precisely > for the purpose of figuring out the protocols of communication and > applying them moment to moment. If you don't want to decide in a given > instance whether you want to respond publicly or privately, you're > betraying your biological legacy. Yes, it's very hard. This much should be obvious from the frequency with which it happens on the Debian mailing lists. As humans, we're prone to mistakes, laziness, and behaviour through repetition. I will say it again, because I don't think the message is getting through. Software should adapt to human behaviour, not the other way around. Arguing that people should adjust the way they use their software "because it makes more sense that way" is a poor excuse for bad engineering. This is why we write software, after all. To make things easier for humans, not machines. Best, -- Noah Slater, http://tumbolia.org/nslater -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-devel-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
