This is, I suppose, a completely off topic thread. However, I just read the web page http://www.unicom.com/pw/reply-to-harmful.html and I was completely unconvinced. In all the years that I have belonged to and run mailing lists, I have never experienced any difficulties. Period. Never. It has been easier and more convenient than this "reply to the sender and not the list" system, without a doubt. The complaints as outlined on the web page are somewhat silly. When saying that replying to the mail author is a big hassle on mailing systems with "munging" the web page author says that one has to "write down" the sender's email address and other steps which simply don't apply. I'm using Outlook, and I've always been able to just double click the original senders address and send that way. No writing down, or even copying and pasting required. There's even a privacy argument to be made that some people may prefer a list where their own address is not shown. What they post is for, and in context of, the list only, and not an invitation for private mail. In some situations, I think that would be fair. "Coddling the Brain-Dead, Penalizing the Conscientious" is just needlessly inflammatory and biased. If the over whelming majority of people expect a system to behave one way, that's not evidence that they are "brain dead", but that it's very likely the expected behaviour is more natural for people, and systems should match humans, not vice versa. "Freedom of choice" is equally satisfied by automatically going to the list but being able to choose to send to the email author. It's the exact equivalent of automatically going to the author but being able to choose to send to the list. "It Adds Nothing" is absolutely false. Being able to automatically respond to the list adds more naturally expected behaviour. I could go on, point by point. But I have a feeling it would fall on deaf ears. If the overwhelming evidence that so many mailing lists and so many people on them function very well on email lists where the mail automatically goes to the list is not evidence enough, than I doubt anything ever will be. Telling people that they need to use proper email software and go about things in the way they don't expect is not a path to sensible human interfaces. Computers, machines, systems, should match us, not us to them. In any case, despite the difficulties, computers are much easier to change than people. I remain steadfast in my opinion that automatically replying to the list is a much more natural option.
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