The "reply all" button should send your reply to the originator of the message
as well as any other recipients of the original message. However, the way the
mail program is implemented on your PC determines who it thinks the originator
is. This is because there are two possible addresses in the mail header:
"from:" and "reply-to:". The address for the person writing the message is in
the "from:" header, and the mailing list address normally is in the "reply-to:"
header. The "reply" button should ideally (in my opinion) send your response to
the "reply-to:" header. However most of PC based mailers that I've tinkered
with do not seem to recognize the "reply-to:" header, and simply use the "from:"
header.
This means that when replying from a PC based mail system, the reply button
will usually send your response to the person who originally wrote the message.
Hitting "reply-all" would send the message to the original author plus the
mailing list, with the result that the original poster will get two copies. If
you want to reply only to the list, you typically have to manually change the
"to:" address.
My personal preference is to use a mailer that asks which address to use when
both are present.
- Wayde Allen
jseigel@panix.com (74160.3410@compuserve.com)
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