On Mon 05 Feb 2018 at 22:55:51 -0500, The Wanderer wrote: > On 2018-02-05 at 13:47, Brian wrote: > > > On Mon 05 Feb 2018 at 10:24:14 -0500, The Wanderer wrote: > > >> If there's an ongoing discussion on that mailing list, and one of > >> the participants wants to draw in a third person who also > >> subscribes, it's entirely appropriate to CC a reply to that third > >> party. > > > > Definitely (whether they are known to subscribe or not). > > > > Which brings us back to - how does one know someone is subscribed to > > a Debian mailing list?
I'll answer my own question; you side-stepped it: in the absence of LDOSUBSCRIBER it is not possible to know. > I still fail to see why that's something we would need to know. Your implied question (a different one from mine) is: why might it be useful to know whether a mail is from a subscribed user? Replying to a list mail requires some effort on the part of reponders. Knowing a user is subscribed gives no guarantee he will read the replies or engage in the conversation he started, although obervation suggests it is nearly always the case that most subscribed users do participate in response to mails they send to the list. The effort a user puts into responding is worth it. Sending a mail which you have no idea (no LDOSUBSCRIBER) will be read by the OP is a waste of time and effort. There is no technical solution which can help in your making a decision whether to reply or not. "Is he subscribed" leads to a judgement based on a complete lack of evidence. > Whether or not the person who posted a given message is subscribed does > not change the correct replying behavior. In both cases, unless the > poster has in some way requested otherwise, replies should go to the > mailing list. I am not arguing that point (I agree with it). -- Brian.
