Re: Mailers and In-reply-to; was Re(4): Postscript: Grub2 in current Squeeze
On Fri, 5 Feb 2010 12:58:05 -0500 (EST), peasthope@shaw.ca wrote:
> When a message was created by clicking the Reply button
> in that mailer, a correct In-reply-to parameter was included.
> No complaint.
>
> The problematic case is where a message in the archive is
> read with the browser and then a reply is created by a
> click on the Compose button in the Web based mailer.
> In that case I can see the Message-id being replied to
> but the mailer offers no way to insert it for the In-reply-to
> parameter. An example is this message.
> "http://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2010/02/msg00283.html";
> So for most of my messages, In-reply-to was correct.
> At least one was faulty.
I can attest to that. I also use a webmail client provided
by my mail service provider that does not allow the user
to manually set the "In-Reply-To" field. The webmail client
generates one if you click on the Reply button within the
mailer itself. But you have to receive the e-mail to reply
to it. Here's how I do it.
(1) I subscribe to the list. That way, I get *all* the
e-mails.
(2) An incoming e-mail from the listserv shows the "From"
field as the original sender's e-mail address, not the
listserv's e-mail address. I'm not sure why, but it does.
The "To" field shows the list it was sent to, usually
debian-user@lists.debian.org. I select the "To" field,
debian-user@lists.debian.org, with the mouse and click
Edit -> Copy in the browser action bar. I then click
on the "Reply" field. I am now in another window in
which I can compose a reply. The mailer, behind the scenes,
has set the "In-Reply-To" field based on the incoming message,
and the "To" field is pre-filled in with the sender's e-mail
address, which is not the e-mail address I want to reply to.
I then highlight the "To" field with the mouse and click on
Edit -> Paste in the browser action bar. The "To" field now
contains the list address. It's kind-of kludgy, but it works.
In Peter's case, his primary system was down and he was
using a back-up e-mail address to post. This e-mail address
was not subscribed to the list. He couldn't "Reply" to
an e-mail he did not receive, he could only compose a new
one. And the web-based e-mail client didn't give him a
mechanism to manually set the "In-Reply-To" header.
In a case like that, Peter, the best you can do is to make
your subject line match *exactly*, character by character,
with the mail you are "replying" to. It will generally show
up in the archives next to the main thread under the title
"Possible follow-ups". But it will be disconnected from the
main thread. There's really nothing you can do about that.
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