Re: Reply-to-All (was Re: [Fwd: RE: [edlug] Facebook group against Mandelson's Digital Economy Bill])

[Dick Middleton <dick@xxx.xxx.xxx>]

Andrew Aylett wrote:
> On 27/11/09 22:32, Bryan Ross wrote:
> > IMHO, which ever is most
> > common for the most number people should be the default behaviour.
> >    
> Not picking on you personally, but you wrote a clear statement which I 
> disagree with.  

To me the problem with this mailing list is the same as with most other 
mailing lists; that is that when I post to the list my email address is 
exposed to anybody who cares to subscribe.  It is quite clear that spammers 
commonly lurk on mailing lists for the express purpose of collecting email 
addresses.  I don't know specifically if spammers lurk on edlug but they might.

This may not have been such an issue when the conventions for configuring and 
using a mailing lists were conceived but it is a problem now.

I would prefer mailing lists to be configured so that the originators email 
address was excluded from the message headers altogether, leaving only the 
address of the list exposed.  In this case, of course, the reply-to issue 
becomes moot.

Other reasons why I don't want my email address exposed include avoiding being 
dragged into off-list conversations with another list member who sees you as a 
resource to resolve their particular problem, and avoiding clogging up the 
T'bird "collected addresses" list with large numbers of list members addresses.

There is a privacy issue too.  If I google myself I turn up all sorts of not 
terribly edifying posts on various subjects which have been archived by 
mailing lists over the years.  My name is a tag into this motley collection of 
posts and seeing them linked together makes me feel a somewhat uncomfortable.

Dick



Dick







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