[Framers] Up for discussion: changing Framers' default Reply-To behavior

[Alan Houser]

I _much_ prefer a default "Reply-To-Sender". Reasons:

- A default Reply-To-All is noisy. (I'll note that Carol suggested that 
we reply privately to her. Why is this thread special?  :-> ).

- A default Reply-To-All _will_ cause private or embarrassing messages 
to go to the list, from senders who use it accidentally.

- If one accidentally replies only to the sender, that's easy to fix. 
Just send the message again to the list. But it's impossible to retract 
a private or embarrassing response sent to the list. There's no "undo" 
for an unintentional "Reply-To-List".

Having said that, I'm grateful that this list continues (thanks, 
Carol!), regardless of admin settings or ground rules.

-Alan

-- 
Alan Houser
Group Wellesley, Inc.
Consultant and Trainer, Technical Publishing
arh on Twitter
412-450-0532


On 1/26/17 1:43 PM, FrameUsers Admin wrote:
> In the "old days" of this list, it was expected that a poster would 
> summarize the comments received, especially any that were sent 
> off-list. These days, most of us don't have time for that and we miss 
> so much good information that could help us all. I know that often 
> someone posts something that I want to watch for replies, only to 
> never read another word on the subject except a mention of all the 
> great off-list replies.
>
> Related to this is what I find to be a major pain in the a**-- 
> pressing Ctrl-R and forgetting that my reply will go only to the 
> original poster. I have to then find the Framers email address, 
> copy/paste it into the header or a new email, and resend the message. 
> I think this may be contributing to the propensity of off-list replies.
>
> When I originally set up this new Framers list, I opted to set the 
> default Reply-To behavior to send only to the poster and not the list 
> because it was the recommended action for new lists. I'm beginning to 
> really regret that decision. So as List Mom, I'd like to change the 
> default reply behavior to go to the list and not to the sender. I 
> realize that this might create situations that could prove 
> embarrassing if one accidentally sends a private reply to the entire 
> list. I'm willing to entertain valid arguments both pro and con to 
> this change in list behavior. I'd prefer receiving them off-list 
> (carol at frameusers.com) unless you feel that your argument merits all 
> 1089 of us taking the time to read it. I won't make this decision 
> unilaterally -- this list belongs to all of us and relies on all of us 
> to provide good content and helpful advice.
>
> Bear in mind that if I DO make this change, I will give plenty of 
> advance warning and repeat it a few times before making the change so 
> that we all have time to retrain our brains.
>
> Carol Elkins
> List Mom
> carol at frameusers.com
>