From: IN%"stewarts@ix.netcom.com" "Bill Stewart" 5-MAY-1996 03:53:29.33

I think that's user-settable, but there is no ideal approach.

I certainly hope it's user-settable, and settable by each mailing list.

The big advantage is that replies go to the original sender by default rather than to the list (which reduces the amount of personal mail going to the list, winning both on noise-reduction and embarassment-reduction);

That's what I suspected the reason was. Sort of like having mail instead of post as a default in USENET.

the disadvantage is that bouncemail goes to the original sender, rather than the list or the list-manager (bouncemail to the sender is annoying, but minor; bouncemail to the list is extremely annoying, as well as potentially causing mail loops, which are an extreme lossage. Bouncemail to the list-manager is ideal (not that the list-manager usually reads it), but it's hard to get without reducing replies directly to originators, as well as increasing replies accidentally going to the list-manager.

I've been looking into procmail as a mail filtering mechanism for a list. It appears possible to handle at least some of the bouncemail via sending it to the list-manager (looking for things like priority: list/bulk/junk, for instance). Any further suggestions? Incidentally, I've been having problems locating the list-manager guides for majordomo; yes, I've tried Alta Vista. All I seem to be able to locate are A. the guides for users - not much use; and B. the FAQ. Sameer? -Allen