It depends on whether or not the sender includes a Reply-To:
header in their original message. If no Reply-To: is set,
the PICLIST L-Soft processor inserts a Reply-To: for the
list. If there is a Reply-To:, the list processor leaves
it alone.

My messages always do have a Reply-To:, so if you try
to do a simple reply to this message, it should just go to
me. If you do a reply-to-all or group reply (most mailers,
including yours -- Outlook 8.5 -- have such a function),
then it should come up going to me *and* to the list. Also,
if you do a reply-to-all or group reply to PICLIST posts
from people who *do not* set their Reply-To:, then your
reply should simply go to the list, as if you had done
a simple reply. Therefore, the best policy to use when
replying to a PICLIST post is to *always* use a group
reply, which is what you really mean to do, n'est pas?

To summarize

  If the poster sets a Reply-To:
  The distributed message will have the poster's
  Reply-To: and original To: and Cc: fields, one of
  which will most likely include the piclist.
    * In which case, if you do a reply, the
      reply will go to the sender's Reply-To:
    * If you do a group reply, the reply will
      go to the sender's Reply-To:, To: and Cc:,
      which will most likely include the list.
  If the poster does *not* set a
  Reply-To:, the distributed message will have
  the Poster's To: and Cc:, but will also
  have a Reply-To: PICLIST.
    * In which case, if you do a reply, the
      reply will go to the Reply-To: == PICLIST
    * If you do a group reply, the reply will
      go to the Reply-To: == PICLIST, as well
      as the sender's To: and Cc:
        - In most such cases, the message will
          have been sent with a To: == PICLIST
          and no Cc:, in which event
          To: == Reply-To: == PICLIST, and the
          group reply will go only to the PICLIST.
        - If The message includes multiple
          addresses on the To: and Cc: lines,
          all those addressees, including the
          PICLIST, will get the reply, and thus
          a small number of people will get
          two copies. (assuming you don't edit
          out the extras).
   There is one odd possibility in all that.
   It is possible (recipients of spam well
   know) for a message to be sent without
   an explict addressee in the To: field.
   The SMTP protocol sends the message content
   and the delivery instructions separately,
   and it is possible to include addresses in
   the delivery instructions that are not in
   the message text. If the PICLIST is thus
   ommitted, and yet the sender includes a
   Reply-To: (God knows why someone would
   do this), then it is possible that even
   a group reply might not go to the list.
   That's assuming that the L-Soft processor
   would let such a message through, I don't
   know about that.

At least I *think* I have that straight. :-)

Hope this helps. If everyone always does
group replies to PICLIST messages (I always
do and it seems to work just fine), then
most of this messages not going to the list
business would probably go away.

Whatever.

--Bob

On Wed, Sep 08, 1999 at 01:22:55PM -0700, James Newton wrote:
> I have also noticed this variation. Some peoples' posts' to the PICLIST come
> up with the PICLIST reply address and others come up with their own. I would
> love to know why.
>
> The computer has trained me to check that before sending.
>
> Ever notice how often the damn things train us as opposed to the other way
> around?
>
> James Newton, webmaster http://get.to/techref
> (hint: you can add your own private info to the techref)
> mailto:jamesnewton@geocities.com
> 1-619-652-0593 phone

--
============================================================
Bob Drzyzgula                             It's not a problem
bob@drzyzgula.org                until something bad happens
============================================================
        http://www.drzyzgula.org/bob/electronics/
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