* * * * *
                                        
            More than you ever wanted to know about Reply-To munging
                                        
More info on the email snafu: Rich Lafferty replied with:

> Note: The “Reply-To” field is added by the originator and serves to direct
> replies, whereas the “Return-Path” field is used to identify a path back to
> the originator. [This is from section 4.3.1 of RFC-822. [1] But see section
> 4.4.3 for a different interpretation. -Sean]
> 
> Although I'm starting to wonder if this isn't symptomatic of a majordomo
> bug, or at least a design flaw. It would make sense to me to configure
> Majordomo such that the Reply-To points to the list *unless* the originator
> added its own Reply-To, in which case it would leave that there. That way,
> you'd have discussion on the list except when the original poster intended
> otherwise, which strikes me as something that the original poster might
> very well want. This would satisfy the objection of lost information (which
> strikes me as the only thing that isn't a question of preference or user-
> agent configuration – when majordomo strips a reply-to, it's *gone*) and
> the objection of encouraging public discussion (in that unless otherwise
> specified by the originator, the reply is directed to the list).
> 

Pete Turnbull replied with:

> Except that mailing lists are not what RFC 822 defined “Reply-to:” for. Its
> primary purpose is quite different; it's to force a reply to a valid
> address when the sender's “From:” is not valid.
> 
> Quote: “The 'Reply-To' field is added by the originator”
> 
> The RFC 822 method would be to set the “From:” field to [mailing list
> address], and set the “Sender:” field to the name of the person who
> originated the message (which is exactly the opposite to what majordomo is
> doing, I notice, but that's perfectly legitimate).
> 

So, where does this get us? Well, I send a message to a mailing list:

> **From:** <sean@conman.org>
>  **To:** <flamefest@lists.tld>
> 
> 

The mailing list software gets it, and when it sends it out:

> **From:** <flamefest@lists.tld>
>  **Sender:** <sean@conman.org>
>  **To:** <joesixpack@somesite.tld>
> 
> 

But, if for some reason I want replies (to me) to go elsewhere, I send:

> **From:** <sean@conman.org>
>  **To:** <flamefest@lists.tld>
>  **Reply-To:** <sean@randomsite.tld>
> 
> 

And what the mailing list software sends out:

> **From:** <flamefest@lists.tld>
>  **Sender:** <sean@conman.org>
>  **To:** <joesixpack@somesite.tld>
>  **Reply-To:** <sean@randomsite.tld>
> 
> 

But we'll see …

[1] ftp://nis.nsf.net/document/rfc/rfc0822.txt

Email Sean Conner at sean@conman.org

.