>A number of our Listserv users are using Outlook Express and Netscape
>Messenger with their e-mail systems.  They would like to press the
>"Reply to Author" button and be able to reply just to the author of the
>message instead of replying to the entire list.  Right now, when they
>use the "Reply to Author" button, their replies still go to the entire
>list.  The list is setup with Reply-To=List,Respect.  I understand that
>we can setup the list with Reply-To=Sender so that replies only go to
>the original sender.  However, our users would like to leave the list
>with Reply-To=List,Respect and use the "Reply to Author" button when
>they want to reply only to the sender.  I have already contacted L-Soft
>support and they suspected a bug in Outlook Express and Netscape
>Messenger, since, according to them, the client should be using the
>"From:" field, not the "Sender:" or "Reply-To:" fields when the user
>presses the "Reply to Author" button.  However, I am using Outlook with
>Microsoft Exchange and have the same problem.
>
>Any advise on this problem would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks.
>
>Susana R. Bustamante
>University of Miami
>Department of Information Technology
>E-mail: [log in to unmask]
>Phone: (305)284-3915

The phrase "reply to author" is pretty vague, and I wouldn't really expect
it to do anything useful.

Here's some of the relevent parts of RFC822.  They appear to back up what
L-Soft told you (though as implied above the notion of the 'author' of a
message is vague enough to allow you some room to argue).

>   4.4.1.  FROM / RESENT-FROM
>
>      This field contains the identity of the person(s)  who  wished
>      this  message to be sent.  The message-creation process should
>      default this field  to  be  a  single,  authenticated  machine
>      address,  indicating  the  AGENT  (person,  system or process)
>      entering the message.  If this is not done, the "Sender" field
>      MUST  be  present.  If the "From" field IS defaulted this way,
>      the "Sender" field is  optional  and  is  redundant  with  the
>      "From"  field.   In  all  cases, addresses in the "From" field
>      must be machine-usable (addr-specs) and may not contain  named
>      lists (groups).
>
>   4.4.2.  SENDER / RESENT-SENDER
>
>      This field contains the authenticated identity  of  the  AGENT
>      (person,  system  or  process)  that sends the message.  It is
>      intended for use when the sender is not the author of the mes-
>      sage,  or  to  indicate  who among a group of authors actually
>      sent the message.  If the contents of the "Sender" field would
>      be  completely  redundant  with  the  "From"  field,  then the
>      "Sender" field need not be present and its use is  discouraged
>      (though  still legal).  In particular, the "Sender" field MUST
>      be present if it is NOT the same as the "From" Field.
>
>      The Sender mailbox  specification  includes  a  word  sequence
>      which  must correspond to a specific agent (i.e., a human user
>      or a computer program) rather than a standard  address.   This
>      indicates  the  expectation  that  the field will identify the
>      single AGENT (person,  system,  or  process)  responsible  for
>      sending  the mail and not simply include the name of a mailbox
>      from which the mail was sent.  For example in the  case  of  a
>      shared login name, the name, by itself, would not be adequate.
>      The local-part address unit, which refers to  this  agent,  is
>      expected to be a computer system term, and not (for example) a
>      generalized person reference which can  be  used  outside  the
>      network text message context.
>
>      Since the critical function served by the  "Sender"  field  is
>      identification  of  the agent responsible for sending mail and
>      since computer programs cannot be held accountable  for  their
>      behavior, it is strongly recommended that when a computer pro-
>      gram generates a message, the HUMAN  who  is  responsible  for
>      that program be referenced as part of the "Sender" field mail-
>      box specification.
>
>   4.4.3.  REPLY-TO / RESENT-REPLY-TO
>
>      This field provides a general  mechanism  for  indicating  any
>      mailbox(es)  to which responses are to be sent.  Three typical
>      uses for this feature can  be  distinguished.   In  the  first
>      case,  the  author(s) may not have regular machine-based mail-
>      boxes and therefore wish(es) to indicate an alternate  machine
>      address.   In  the  second case, an author may wish additional
>      persons to be made aware of, or responsible for,  replies.   A
>      somewhat  different  use  may be of some help to "text message
>      teleconferencing" groups equipped with automatic  distribution
>      services:   include the address of that service in the "Reply-
>      To" field of all messages  submitted  to  the  teleconference;
>      then  participants  can  "reply"  to conference submissions to
>      guarantee the correct distribution of any submission of  their
>      own.
>
>      Note:  The "Return-Path" field is added by the mail  transport
>             service,  at the time of final deliver.  It is intended
>             to identify a path back to the orginator  of  the  mes-
>             sage.   The  "Reply-To"  field  is added by the message
>             originator and is intended to direct replies.

For LSTOWN-L, here's how the three header parts are used:

>Reply-To: "LISTSERV list owners' forum" <[log in to unmask]>
>Sender: "LISTSERV list owners' forum" <[log in to unmask]>
>From: "Bustamante, Susana" <[log in to unmask]>

This seems conformant to RFC822 as quoted as above.

-jwgh