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<H3><A NAME="SECTION002212000000000000000">
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2.1.2 Reply-To header munging</A>
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This section controls what happens to the <span class="mailheader">Reply-To:</span>
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headers of messages posted through your list.
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Beware! <span class="mailheader">Reply-To:</span> munging is considered a religious issue
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and the policies you set here can ignite some of the most heated
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off-topic flame wars on your mailing lists. We'll try to stay as
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agnostic as possible, but our biases may still peak through.
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<span class="mailheader">Reply-To:</span> is a header that is commonly used to redirect
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replies to messages. Exactly what happens when your uses reply to
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such a message depends on the mail readers your users use, and what
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functions they provide. Usually, there is both a ``reply to sender''
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button and a ``reply to all'' button. If people use these buttons
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correctly, you will probably never need to munge
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<span class="mailheader">Reply-To:</span>, so the default values should be fine.
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Since an informed decision is always best, here are links to two
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articles that discuss the opposing viewpoints in great detail:
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<LI><a class="ulink" href="http://www.unicom.com/pw/reply-to-harmful.html"
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>Reply-To Munging Considered
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<LI><a class="ulink" href="http://www.metasystema.org/essays/reply-to-useful.mhtml"
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>Reply-To Munging Considered
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The three options in this section work together to provide enough
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flexibility to do whatever <span class="mailheader">Reply-To:</span> munging you might
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(misguidingly :) feel you need to do.
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<DT><STRONG>first_strip_reply_to</STRONG></DT>
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<DD>This variable controls whether any <span class="mailheader">Reply-To:</span> header
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already present in the posted message should get removed before
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any other munging occurs. Stripping this header will be done
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regardless of whether or not Mailman will add its own
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<span class="mailheader">Reply-To:</span> header to the message.
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If this option is set to <em>No</em>, then any existing
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<span class="mailheader">Reply-To:</span> header will be retained in the posted
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message. If Mailman adds its own header, it will contain
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addresses which are the union of the original header and the
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Mailman added addresses. The mail standards specify that a
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message may only have one <span class="mailheader">Reply-To:</span> header, but that
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that header may contain multiple addresses.
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<DT><STRONG>reply_goes_to_list</STRONG></DT>
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<DD>This variable controls whether Mailman will add its own
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<span class="mailheader">Reply-To:</span> header, and if so, what the value of that
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header will be (not counting original header stripping - see
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When you set this variable to <em>Poster</em>, no additional
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<span class="mailheader">Reply-To:</span> header will be added by Mailman. This
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setting is strongly recommended.
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When you set this variable to <em>This list</em>, a
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<span class="mailheader">Reply-To:</span> header pointing back to your list's posting
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address will be added.
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When you set this variable to <em>Explicit address</em>, the value
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of the variable <code>reply_to_address</code> (see below) will be
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added. Note that this is one situation where
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<span class="mailheader">Reply-To:</span> munging may have a legitimate purpose. Say
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you have two lists at your site, an announce list and a discussion
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list. The announce list might allow postings only from a small
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number of approved users; the general list membership probably
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can't post to this list. But you want to allow comments on
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announcements to be posted to the general discussion list by any
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list member. In this case, you can set the <span class="mailheader">Reply-To:</span>
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header for the announce list to point to the discussion list's
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<DT><STRONG>reply_to_address</STRONG></DT>
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<DD>This is the address that will be added in the
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<span class="mailheader">Reply-To:</span> header if <code>reply_goes_to_list</code> is set
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to <em>Explicit address</em>.
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<span class="release-info">Release 2.1, documentation updated on December 13, 2004.</span>
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