How to reply to message in mailing list?

How to reply to message in mailing list?

[ej32u]

Hello,

I want to reply to a message in the Devel mailing list, but I don't know how.

When I click on the "Reply to" button under the message, it looks like it only 
gives me the address of the person who sent the message.  Will a reply to that 
sender also reach the rest of the mailing list?

Is there a place to read how to interact with the mailing list in general? 
Should a certain address be CC'ed when sending messages?  I have looked up 
mailing lists, but only found information on sending to many addresses, and I am 
not sure if that is the same meaning in this context of the mailing list website.

Thank you.

Re: How to reply to message in mailing list?

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Sat, 12 Sep 2020 01:12:41 +0000
> From: ej32u@protonmail.com
> 
> Is there a place to read how to interact with the mailing list in general? 

You need to read the list (or at least the message you want to reply
to) in a mail user agent.  Emacs has a couple of them, and there are
others.  The archives of each GNU mailing list are available in mbox
format, which many mail programs can read.

If you read a message from a mailing list in a mail program, then you
will be capable of invoking the "Reply All" action, which will
automatically produce a response that goes to all the addressees,
including the list and the author of the original message.

> Should a certain address be CC'ed when sending messages?

Depends on the list, but most lists want this, yes.

Re: How to reply to message in mailing list?

[Göktuğ Kayaalp]

On 2020-09-12 04:12 +03, ej32u@protonmail.com wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I want to reply to a message in the Devel mailing list, but I don't know how.
>
> When I click on the "Reply to" button under the message, it looks like it only
> gives me the address of the person who sent the message.  Will a reply to that
> sender also reach the rest of the mailing list?

Hi!

The reply to button indeed adds only the recipient of the message.  You
want to CC the message to ‘emacs-devel@gnu.org’ too.

These mailing lists are generally handled using email clients (‘MUAs’)
that know how to handle this sort of stuff automatically, so you might
want to try a program like mutt, or Gnus, mu4e, notmuch, or Rmail in
Emacs.

It’s easier to subscribe to a mailing list, redirect mail from it to
some folder, and read and reply from there.

I looked around but couldn’t find any proper introductory material.  But
if you’re interested and nobody comes up with a link to a good intro, I
can walk you through my setup.

--
İ. Göktuğ Kayaalp / @cadadr / <https://www.gkayaalp.com/>
pgp:   024C 30DD 597D 142B 49AC 40EB 465C D949 B101 2427

Re: How to reply to message in mailing list?

[ej32u]

On 9/12/20 4:27 AM, Göktuğ Kayaalp wrote:
> Hi!
>
> The reply to button indeed adds only the recipient of the message.  You
> want to CC the message to ‘emacs-devel@gnu.org’ too.
>
> These mailing lists are generally handled using email clients (‘MUAs’)
> that know how to handle this sort of stuff automatically, so you might
> want to try a program like mutt, or Gnus, mu4e, notmuch, or Rmail in
> Emacs.
>
> It’s easier to subscribe to a mailing list, redirect mail from it to
> some folder, and read and reply from there.

Thank you!

I think I am figuring it out so far, using Thunderbird. You are correct that is 
much easier when replying to e-mails received  from the mailing list.

One question I do have (though maybe you won't be able to answer about 
Thunderbird), is whether it is sufficient to reply directly to the mailing list, 
as Thunderbird wants to do when clicking its "Reply List" button?
I have  seen that my responses show up correctly in the mailing list, but is 
that enough for to whom I'm replying to see the message correctly?

Thunderbird does have the option for sending messages directly to the recipient 
and CC'ing the mailing list (by clicking "Reply All"), but it doesn't seem to be 
the default action, and I'm not sure what the better behavior is in this case. 
Is there a reason to prefer one behavior to the other?

Thank you.

Re: How to reply to message in mailing list?

[Emanuel Berg via Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor]

ej32u wrote:

> One question I do have (though maybe you won't be
> able to answer about Thunderbird), is whether it is
> sufficient to reply directly to the mailing list,
> as Thunderbird wants to do when clicking its "Reply
> List" button? I have  seen that my responses show
> up correctly in the mailing list, but is that
> enough for to whom I'm replying to see the
> message correctly?
>
> Thunderbird does have the option for sending
> messages directly to the recipient and CC'ing the
> mailing list (by clicking "Reply All"), but it
> doesn't seem to be the default action, and I'm not
> sure what the better behavior is in this case.
> Is there a reason to prefer one behavior to
> the other?

If you send messages to the list, everyone who
subscribes to the list, or follows the corresponding
newsgroup or Gmane group, will see them.

However...

Sometimes people who do not subscribe to the ML still
would like to ask a question now and them. So while
they are not really into the software for the sake of
it, not enough to subscribe to the ML anyway, they
still would like to read all replies to their own
questions or suggestions, of course.

Problem is...

When you respond to a message, you don't know who is
subscribed or not.

The person writing the original post could add, "I'm
not on the list, CC all replies to me", I guess.

-- 
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573
https://dataswamp.org/~incal

Re: How to reply to message in mailing list?

[Pankaj Jangid]

On Tue, Sep 15 2020, Emanuel Berg wrote:

> Sometimes people who do not subscribe to the ML still would like to
> ask a question now and them. So while they are not really into the
> software for the sake of it, not enough to subscribe to the ML anyway,
> they still would like to read all replies to their own questions or
> suggestions, of course.
>
> Problem is...
>
> When you respond to a message, you don't know who is subscribed or
> not.

Some MUAs understand Mail-Followup-To (MFT). It was created to support
the abovementioned scenarios.

Re: How to reply to message in mailing list?

[Emanuel Berg via Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor]

Pankaj Jangid wrote:

> Some MUAs understand Mail-Followup-To (MFT). It was
> created to support the abovementioned scenarios.

MUA = mail user agent, or mail client in today's
lingo [1]

I use Gnus and reply to posts with
`gnus-article-followup-with-original'.

However the mail client of a responder cannot know
either if the OP is subscribed or not. So it must be
provided as header data in either the original
message or appended by the ML distribution
software...

Here (info "(emacs) Mail Headers") it says

  ‘Mail-Followup-To’
       One of more address(es) to use as default recipient(s) for
       follow-up messages.  This is typically used when you reply to a
       message from a mailing list that you are subscribed to, and want
       replies to go to the list without sending an extra copy to you.

Hm, sounds like the opposite scenario TBH...


[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email_client

-- 
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573
https://dataswamp.org/~incal

Re: How to reply to message in mailing list?

[Göktuğ Kayaalp]

On 2020-09-15 04:49 +03, ej32u@protonmail.com wrote:
> Thank you!

You’re welcome!

> Thunderbird does have the option for sending messages directly to the
> recipient and CC'ing the mailing list (by clicking "Reply All"), but
> it doesn't seem to be the default action, and I'm not sure what the
> better behavior is in this case.  Is there a reason to prefer one
> behavior to the other?

This kinda boils down to preference.  Personally (I currently use mu4e
but regardless of the client) I like to reply to everyone participating
in the thread plus the list, and prefer everybody else do so.  That’s
because that means I get replies to my messages in my inbox, so I don’t
have to read the entire list all the time (and I only subscribed for
this particular discussion, normally I’m not really active here).  Some
say this creates duplication, tho my email client seems to handle that
well, not showing stuff from my inbox again when I look at the mailing
list.

TBH, this is why a piece of software like Gitlab or Github is superior
to this emailing setup.  You get to choose which discussions you want to
follow, or what news to follow, whether you want that stuff in your
inbox, and all that stuff.

--
İ. Göktuğ Kayaalp / @cadadr / <https://www.gkayaalp.com/>
pgp:   024C 30DD 597D 142B 49AC 40EB 465C D949 B101 2427

Re: How to reply to message in mailing list?

[Robert Pluim]

>>>>> On Tue, 15 Sep 2020 09:41:39 +0300, Göktuğ Kayaalp <self@gkayaalp.com> said:

    Göktuğ> TBH, this is why a piece of software like Gitlab or Github is superior
    Göktuğ> to this emailing setup.  You get to choose which discussions you want to
    Göktuğ> follow, or what news to follow, whether you want that stuff in your
    Göktuğ> inbox, and all that stuff.

Ha! If you read lists via gmane, then you can follow what you want
without it ever appearing in your inbox.

Robert

Re: How to reply to message in mailing list?

[Göktuğ Kayaalp]

On 2020-09-15 14:02 +03, Robert Pluim <rpluim@gmail.com> wrote:
> Ha! If you read lists via gmane, then you can follow what you want
> without it ever appearing in your inbox.

That’s still a relaible option?  I used to use Gnus for lists and Rmail
for personal mail until gmane went down for a while, didn’t know it
came back online.

--
İ. Göktuğ Kayaalp / @cadadr / <https://www.gkayaalp.com/>
pgp:   024C 30DD 597D 142B 49AC 40EB 465C D949 B101 2427

Re: How to reply to message in mailing list?

[Robert Pluim]

>>>>> On Tue, 15 Sep 2020 14:17:05 +0300, Göktuğ Kayaalp <self@gkayaalp.com> said:

    Göktuğ> On 2020-09-15 14:02 +03, Robert Pluim <rpluim@gmail.com> wrote:
    >> Ha! If you read lists via gmane, then you can follow what you want
    >> without it ever appearing in your inbox.

    Göktuğ> That’s still a relaible option?  I used to use Gnus for lists and Rmail
    Göktuğ> for personal mail until gmane went down for a while, didn’t know it
    Göktuğ> came back online.

Itʼs reliable enough. Although itʼs now at "news.gmane.io" rather than
.org

Robert

Re: How to reply to message in mailing list?

[Nick Dokos]

Robert Pluim <rpluim@gmail.com> writes:

>>>>>> On Tue, 15 Sep 2020 14:17:05 +0300, Göktuğ Kayaalp <self@gkayaalp.com> said:
>
>     Göktuğ> On 2020-09-15 14:02 +03, Robert Pluim <rpluim@gmail.com> wrote:
>     >> Ha! If you read lists via gmane, then you can follow what you want
>     >> without it ever appearing in your inbox.
>
>     Göktuğ> That’s still a relaible option?  I used to use Gnus for lists and Rmail
>     Göktuğ> for personal mail until gmane went down for a while, didn’t know it
>     Göktuğ> came back online.
>
> Itʼs reliable enough. Although itʼs now at "news.gmane.io" rather than
> .org
>

But no search (yet? crossing fingers and toes and hoping...)

-- 
Nick

"There are only two hard problems in computer science: cache
invalidation, naming things, and off-by-one errors." -Martin Fowler

Re: How to reply to message in mailing list?

[Emanuel Berg via Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor]

Nick Dokos wrote:

> But no search (yet? crossing fingers and toes and
> hoping...)

Dunno, but the ML->NNTP _is_ the killer feature...

-- 
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573
https://dataswamp.org/~incal

Re: How to reply to message in mailing list?

[황병희]

> Dunno, but the ML->NNTP _is_ the killer feature...

Very much i agree!

Sincerely, Byung-Hee

-- 
^고맙습니다 _和合團結_ 감사합니다_^))//

Re: How to reply to message in mailing list?

[황병희]

> Is there a place to read how to interact with the mailing list in general? 

Gmane is very good place if you want to read all threads very fast. Of
course Thunderbird also can connect to Gmane via NNTP.

Sincerely, Byung-Hee

-- 
^고맙습니다 _救濟蒼生_ 감사합니다_^))//