Ubuntu-Users and Reply-to-List

[Benj. Mako Hill]

Greetings,

For those of you that read the ubuntu-news list[1], you may have seen
that due to a request, the Ubuntu Community Council discussed the
status of the reply-to header at the meeting last week[2].

The issue at stake is more complex than many people, on both sides of
the issue, have argued. Clearly, the lack of a reply-to-list function
in at least one the major email clients that Ubuntu ships
(Thunderbird) makes the lack of a reply-to a headache for many
users. That said, setting a reply-to will break existing reply-to
headers for some users of the list. For these and many other reasons,
people feel very strongly *both* ways.

Additionally, the council expressed some hesitation at moving forward
with any change specifically because the tone of recent discussion on
the topic on this list has degenerated into disrespectful attacks and
an unhelpful "us versus them" attitude. We're looking to a policy of
enforcing the code of conduct[3] more rigorously in the future.

With all that said, I'm happy to announce that the council has
listened to arguments made by many who were respectful and
constructive in their complaints and is going to switch the
ubuntu-users mailing list (and only that list) to "reply-to-list" for
a *trial* period. The topic will be discussed again at the next
community council meeting.

Additionally, Canonical is looking into bountying reply-to-list
functionality for Thunderbird in Ubuntu.

If you have strong feelings about the change, either way, please read
up on the background of the decision and feel free to reply to this
list or to email <ubuntu-users-owner at lists.ubuntu.com>.

On the lighter, but no less important side of the issue, you might
want to be careful when you hit reply from now on. The messages will
be public by default. ;)

Thank you to everyone for being an important part of the Ubuntu
community!

Regards,
Mako


[1] http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-news
[2] http://people.ubuntulinux.org/~mako/cc-summary-20050125.html
[3] http://www.ubuntulinux.org/community/conduct

-- 
Benjamin Mako Hill
mako at canonical.com