--On Tuesday, January 19, 1999, 9:55 PM -0800 Gary VanderMolen
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>> My recommendation is to simply use the normal Reply command, then verify
>> that your mail client has addressed the message appropriately before you
>> send it.
>
> Uh, this is the same amount of work one would have to do when using
> 'Reply to All'.  In the latter case one would have to verify the resulting
> 'To' line and be ready to delete unwanted addressees.  How is this more
> trouble than the necessary verifying you mention above?

With a normal reply, your message will usually be addressed appropriately
(either to the list or to the sender, depending on how the list was
configured) without any further editing.  However, with a "Reply to All"
command, you will almost always have to edit the address line(s) to prevent
duplication.

> 'Reply to All' also gives you the option to reply to the originator
> privately, which is much more difficult to do with a simple 'Reply'.

Yes, this is true, but it's more of a workaround for a lacking mail client.
The best reply interface I have seen in this regard is in the IMAP client
Mulberry.  It has a three specific options ("Reply to Sender", "Reply to
From", and "Reply to All") and a general reply option which pops up a
selection window that allows you to choose any combination of addresses
from the original message.

Alan