Date   : Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:27:37 +0100
From   : rick@... (Rick Murray)
Subject: Who the message is from...

Hello,

I know this has been gone over before - although I am wondering if there 
is any *technical* reason why the "From" attribution in this mailing 
list is not the mailing list itself?

Is it not possible, at the server side, to retail people's names yet 
alter the From: to bbc-micro at ...
or even to insert a Reply-To pointing to the mailing list?

I raise this (again) because I just had a private mail from somebody. 
Now if you write to me and change the subject line, my Thunderbird will 
extract your message and place it in a separate inbox.
If you do not, it will be listed in the mailing list and it is habit to 
manually replace the message To with the mailing list address. Without 
actually examining the headers, there's no way of telling if it is a 
list posting or a private message. The possible implications of replying 
to a private message publically... ought to be obvious.

Thankfully the sender DID specify it was a private message, so I knew.

Accordingly, I have added an extra line at the bottom of my signature to 
remind this - if anybody ever actually reads sigs!


For Thunderbird:

"BBC Mailing List" is its own account, distinct from Local Folders.
There is the Inbox folder as standard, plus an additional 
"Inbox-Nonlist" folder.

A filter (menu Tools -> Message Filters) has been created, as follows:

If {Subject} {doesn't contain} "[BBC-Micro]" then...
{Move Message to} {"Inbox-Nonlist" on BBC Mailing List}

So as messages arrive, ones sent privately (going by subject) are 
filtered out.


[to follow - I wonder if I could filter using:
    X-BeenThere: bbc-micro@...
  as that may be more reliable?]


Best wishes,

Rick.

-- 
Rick Murray, eeePC901 & ADSL WiFI'd into it, all ETLAs!
BBC B: DNFS, 2 x 5.25" floppies, EPROM prog, Acorn TTX
E01S FileStore, A3000/A5000/RiscPC/various PCs/blahblah...
 >> TO PRIVATE MAIL ME, REMOVE [BBC-Micro] FROM SUBJECT <<