Using the reply to all, thanks. On 21/11/2010, at 12:32 AM, Magnus Hagander wrote: > On Sat, Nov 20, 2010 at 14:22, Elliot Chance <elliotchance@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: >> >> On 20/11/2010, at 11:52 PM, Magnus Hagander wrote: >> >>> On Sat, Nov 20, 2010 at 12:26, Elliot Chance <elliotchance@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: >>>> >>>> On 20/11/2010, at 9:52 PM, Magnus Hagander wrote: >>>> >>>>> On Sat, Nov 20, 2010 at 02:57, Elliot Chance <elliotchance@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>> On 20/11/2010, at 3:58 AM, Magnus Hagander wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>> Isn't that a secondary use case, though? It would be easy to solve this >>>>>> >>>>>> by providing a URL to the post in the forum that you can click; assuming >>>>>> >>>>>> the forum interface gives you the option to reply privately. >>>>>> >>>>>> That would pretty much make it impossible to use offline. >>>>>> >>>>>> That would be annoying, but I guess survivable. But how would that >>>>>> work for a user that hasn't signed up for the forum? How does it >>>>>> verify the sender? >>>>>> >>>>>> The forum uses the same confirmation as the mailing list where an email is >>>>>> sent to the address and they have to click on a link to activate their >>>>>> account - this very standard practice on forum software. >>>>> >>>>> Oh, I assumed that - you're missing my point. >>>>> >>>>> The point is this: >>>>> Assume John Doe posts something to the list. I am reading this, and >>>>> want to use "alvaros suggestion" for doing a direct response. So I >>>>> click the link that was in the email. *I* am not registrered in the >>>>> forums. How do I respond to his post in a safe way? >>>> >>>> You are registered in the forum already (it does this automatically), you simply reply on the mailing list as you have always done. If you feel the sudden urge to only reply via the forum then simply use the recover password to login and reply from there. >>> >>> I can't do that, since all email is sent from the same address. How >>> will the forum software know which person I was trying to respond to? >> >> One very annoying thing about Apple Mail with these lists is that when I hit reply if I don't change the To address to the mailing list or manually add the Cc then it doesn't even get sent to the mailing list. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of my posts have disappeared like that. > > Use "Reply To All" when you want to send to the list. It's what > everybody else has been doing for ages :-) If you want to read up on > the bike-shedding that goes behind that preference, it is something > that comes up regularly - just search the archives. > > >> forums@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx is pointed to a black hole so that email disappears but the mailing list gets another copy. When the mailing list gets its copy it sends a copy to the forum (because the forum is just like a subscribed user), the parser then dissects the headers to find out where the post belongs. We already know this part works. > > So how does one respond to the user? I can't explain it any clearer, your email response goes to the mailing list and that mailing list sends a copy to the original person thats how a mailing list works. It also sends a copy to the forum which is parses you and that person and anyone else can see the reply on the forum. > > >>>> Using nomail still requires you to confirm your email address (I know because i've tried it.) If there were a magic value you could pass then it would defeat the purpose of having email confirmations and people would just write scripts to cheat it - like I want to do. >>> >>> Uh, no. Not when you're accessing the interface with the proper >>> password (one that has permissions to do admin actions on the list). >>> The code in that example does not require confirmation for the >>> subscriptions. It does, I think, send out the "welcome to the xyz >>> list" mail, but that should also be easily scriptable away. >> >> Theres no way I'm relying on the fact that every person that signs up to the forums will be informed enough to realise that the forum is more-or-less just a front for the mailing list. If I signed up to a forum and got and email saying "welcome to the mailing list" I would think "Um, I didn't sign up to this" and unsubscribe. Now all my posts will be rejected by the mailing list and my posts will goto thin air without me ever knowing. > > Like I said, "that should also be easily scriptable away". Yes, it > will take more than zero seconds of work to look into how to do it. As theres no way or checking the subscription status of an address I would have to subscribe them every post. And i'm sure they would get really annoyed when every they unsubscribe from the mailing list and make a post on the forum they keep getting "welcome to the mailing list" emails. > > >>> You are still not understanding the problem. Since I *don't have the >>> users email address*, I can't send it the normal way. I have nowhere >>> to send it. >> >> Explained above, your not sending it to the person your sending it back to the mailing list. I know this works because I've been testing it with my own address like a dummy mailing list. > > At the risk of sounding like a broken record.. I don't *WANT* to send > it to the list, in this scenario. I want to send it to the *person*. Theres only two possible scenarios; 1. The person is signed up to the mailing list, in which case they will get your reply when its passed through the mailing list like they should. 2. The person signed up to the forum and not the mailing list, in which case they will get an email from the forum saying "JohnDoe has replied to your post..." Either way they will get your response. > > >>>> Forums and mailing lists have the same functionality they just do the same things different ways. If you want to use the mailing list you have to use it like a mailing list, if you want to use the forum then you have to use it like a forum. >>>> >>>> If John Doe signs up to the forum he is expecting the forum to work like a forum. When his answer is posted to the forum thread he will be notified. If in rare cases someone needs to send him a private message or email they can still do so through those features provided inside the forum software. >>> >>> So again, you're either not understanding the problem, or deliberately >>> avoiding it. >>> >>> John Doe posts something to the forum. >>> This gets mirrored to the mailinglist. From address is forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >>> I read this >>> I want to respond to John Doe. >> >> If you want to respond you use the Reply button. > > But that email goes to forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Which you said above > is a black hole. How do I get it to John? > > >>> There is no way for me to reach John Doe at this point. I can reach >>> the mailinglist. But I don't want to reach the mailinglist, I want to >>> reach John Done. >> >> If you want to personally reach John Doe you can use either the PM or email system in the forum - and you know how to reach him by his name. And perhaps a URL at the bottom of the email. If you just want to reply to him then i've explain that above. > > But I'm not *on* the forum, I'm using the mailinglist. > > The URL at the bottom is an acceptable solution, if you can make it > work transparently. I just don't understand how you can do that - > since I haven't signed up, I don't have a password.And you can't > encode it in the URL, because it goes into public archives... So how > would that URL *work*? > This is your forum account http://forums.postgresql.com.au/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=101 Anyone that posts to the mailing list becomes a member of the forum so that their emails can be used as posts otherwise there would be one giant MailingList user that has 99%+ of the forum posts which is a terrible idea. > >>> How do I access the forums private message feature, since I'm not >>> registered in the forum software? >> >> Again, you are registered, you have a password but you'l have to recover it the first time to be able to login to the forum to send PMs/emails etc. > > So basically, I can't respond to posts made from the forum then, > because having to go through such a cycle is certainly broken enough > that I would never use it. > > Based on that, I'm back to saying that the email has to be generated > from a valid email address, that can be used for return traffic. > Whether it's the users original address or a forum-specific one is a > different question, but a blackhole catch-all one just won't do. > Nothings changed if you wish to continue using the mailing lists. > -- > Magnus Hagander > Me: http://www.hagander.net/ > Work: http://www.redpill-linpro.com/ -- Sent via pgsql-general mailing list (pgsql-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-general
