Messages to List - please don't reply to start

[Michael A. Peters]

There seem to be a number of e-mails sent to the lists that are new  
messages but are sent as a reply to other messages - like people are  
choosing the "reply to" option, and then just replacing the subject  
with something new and then putting something new in the body.

Please do not do this. Add the appropriate mailing list to your address  
book and start a new message.

When a message comes from the list, there is a header with a message ID  
in it. The header is called Message-ID.

When you reply, your mail client sends the message specifying that it  
is in response to that Message-ID.

This means that people who use e-mail clients that offer a threaded  
view, your message will end up looking like a response to a message  
rather than a completely new message. The result is that less people  
will see your message, because some will not be interested in the  
particular e-mail you responded to to create your message, resulting in  
them not bothering to look at responses.

It also is a pain for those who are eager to see responses to a  
particular thread, because then your completely different message shows  
up in there.

With both Evolution and Balsa, and I assume with kmail too, it is  
trivial to add the mailing list to your address book. If you are having  
trouble doing so with your mail client, a question to the Fedora Users  
list can help out.