[erlang-questions] 'reply-to' header in this mailing list

[Ladislav Lenart]

Hello.

On 18.5.2011 09:38, Pierpaolo Bernardi wrote:
> On Wed, May 18, 2011 at 07:35, Michael Turner
> <michael.eugene.turner@REDACTED>  wrote:
>> Does anyone have any statistics on this question? That is, what percentage
>> of mailing lists "do it wrong"? It's counterintuitive to me that  a "reply"
>> on this mailing list is only to the individual. "Reply" is "Reply to the
>> list" on every other mailing list I'm currently on, and on almost every
>> mailing list I can remember being on. But perhaps my lifetime mailing list
>> membership doesn't approach statistical significance.
>> Although it may get me accused of "blindly following the herd," let me
>> assert it anyway: arguments from "intuition" in commonly used software
>> interfaces only work when you have statistically significant user support
>> for them, not some purely formal, rule-based argument for your *personal*
>> intuition. What's "intuitive" to one person may be counterintuitive to many.
>
> According to your intuition, what should be the difference between
> an action called "Reply" and another called "Reply to all"?

But this does not take into account that most users of this mailing
list are already familiar with the way other mailing lists work. They
already know (perhaps by trial and error from a long ago) that "Reply"
replies to all the list members. And in this situation this mailing
list is the one that breaks their "intuition" (habit, familiarity).

Your question works only for a first time mailing list user with
no previous exposure to any mailing list. In such a situation the
labels "Reply" and "Reply to all" will be all the information she
has to decide.


Ladislav Lenart

PS: I am not biased to any side on this one.