Errors-to: owner-drums@CS.UTK.EDU
Date: Thu, 17 Aug 1995 13:08:15 +0200 (MET DST)
From: Jacob Palme <jpalme@dsv.su.se>
To: ietf-drums <drums@CS.UTK.EDU>
Subject: "Reply-To" header
Message-Id: <Pine.SUN.3.91.950817130546.27998I-100000@ester>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

Keith Moore writes:

> From be used to specify the sender's "real mailbox".  If the sender
> wants to specify an address to which "reply to sender" should go,
> the From field is the place to do it.
> 
> Reply-to be used to specify the sender's preferences about where
> replies to this message should go by default, instead of *any*
> of the From, To, and Cc addresses.
> 
> and that user agents be encouraged to implement:
> 
> "reply to sender"
> 
>         send to From address(es)
> 
> "reply to sender and recipients"
> 
>         send to From, To, and CC addresses
> 
> "reply"
>         send to Reply-to address(es) if the header exists,
>         else treat as either "reply to sender" or
>         "reply to sender and recipients".  (I prefer the
>         latter; many others prefer the former and it's
>         arguably the one that's more widely implemented.)

Our experience is that it is not good practice to have a "reply"
command and guess what the user wants. Either you should have two
commands, none of which should be named only "Reply" or you
should have a compulsory question after the command on whether
the reply should go to all recipients or only the author.

Guessing what the user wants much too often results in something
which the user did not want, in our experience.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jacob Palme <jpalme@dsv.su.se> (Stockholm University and KTH)
for more info see URL: http://www.dsv.su.se/~jpalme